Three-dimensional logic circuit

ABSTRACT

Apparatus and associated methods related to a three dimensional integrated logic circuit that includes a columnar active region. Within the columnar active region resides an interdigitated plurality of semiconductor columns and conductive columns. A plurality of transistors is vertically arranged along each semiconductor column, which extends from a bottom surface of the columnar logic region to a top surface of the columnar logic region. The plurality of transistors are electrically interconnected so as to perform a logic function and to generate a logic output signal at a logic output port in response to a logic input signal received at a logic input port. Each of the plurality of conductive columns is adjacent to at least one of the plurality of semiconductor columns and extends along a columnar axis to one or more interconnection layers at the top and/or bottom surfaces of the columnar active layer.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/915,733, filed Mar. 8, 2018, for “Unipolar Logic Circuits” by Tommy Allen Agan and James John Lupino, which is a continuation in part of U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 15/729,470 filed Oct. 10, 2017, for “Unipolar Latched Logic Circuits” by Tommy Allen Agan and James John Lupino. The entire disclosures of these above-referenced applications are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Conventional CMOS logic integrated circuits employ both PMOS and NMOS transistors for high performance and low power. Unipolar logic may be employed—using only NMOS transistors or only PMOS transistors—to reduce the cost of manufacturing, however, high stand-by power of such methods to-date have prohibited unipolar logic to be utilized on a large scale. The continued advancement in the semiconductor and flat panel display industries has yielded new types of transistor materials to be considered for integrated circuits. Some materials such as thin film amorphous metal oxides are low cost and may be fabricated monolithically in 3D structures thereby enabling true monolithic 3D integrated circuits. Furthermore, compound semiconductors such as InAs, InGaAs and GaAs exhibit electron mobility much higher than silicon and therefore are promising candidates to replace silicon. However, these thin film and compound semiconductor transistors are mainly implemented in only NMOS or PMOS type, but not both. A new circuit design is therefore required to enable low stand-by power unipolar logic in order for such new transistor materials to reach a large scale in the electronics industry.

SUMMARY

Novel unipolar circuits and vertical structures are described which exhibit low stand-by power, high speed performance, and higher density compared to conventional silicon CMOS circuitry. In one embodiment, capacitors are employed to enable a precharge state. In another embodiment, capacitors are employed in a bootstrap fashion to maintain the integrity of the high voltage gate output. In yet another embodiment, a clocked gate design utilizes a clock at each gate to bootstrap the voltage so there's no loss due to threshold voltage drop. Further embodiments include novel designs of vertical unipolar logic gates which provides for high density. Ultra-short transistor channel lengths in vertical unipolar logic gates are fabricated with a deposition process—in lieu of a lithography process—thereby providing for high speed operation and low cost manufacturing.

2.5D and 3D integrated circuits is an area with much ongoing development in methods to improve performance, increase density and reduce die size (cost). The conventional method to achieve improved performance in integrated circuits was to port the circuit design to a smaller feature size (F) or technology node—for example, from 130 nm to 90 nm to 65 nm and so forth. The industry wide Moore's Law was known for the principle that the speed and capability of computers can be expected to double every two years, as a result of increases in the number of transistors a microchip can contain by virtue of smaller feature sizes enabled by improved lithography equipment and processes. The principle has held true for many years with expected cost reduction per transistor with the reduction in feature size. However, as feature sizes reached 20 nm and lower, the cost per transistor has increased due to the high costs of implementing such small feature sizes. Many industry experts feel Moore's Law has reached the physical limit at 5 nm and hence, other methods—beyond improved lithography—are needed to enable continued density and performance improvements in integrated circuits at reasonable costs. Industry developments and proposals for three dimensional (3D) circuits have mainly focused on stacking of multiple die rather than monolithic fabrication of 3D circuits as disclosed herein. The industry has been tied to the crystalline silicon substrate. The invention disclosed herein is not restricted to a particular substrate and therefore enables an innovative approach to true monolithic 3D integrated circuits.

Conventional integrated circuits are designed in a planar layout configuration due to the fact the crystalline silicon substrate is electrically coupled to the integrated circuit. Planar layouts of logic gates—such as CMOS NAND or NOR gates—may occupy upwards of 150 F² in die area. Free from the anchor of electrically coupling the substrate to the circuit, monolithic 3D semiconductor columns may be fabricated which allows for logic gates occupying less than 20% of the planar silicon counterparts, or even close to 10% of the area.

DEFINITION OF DRAWING NUMERALS

-   10—CLK, Unipolar Clocked NAND or NOR Gate, Low Power Circuit Single     CLK per Gate -   21—NMOS Transistors, Unipolar Precharged NAND or NOR Gate -   22, 23, 24 and 25—NMOS Transistors, Unipolar Precharged or Clocked     NAND or NOR Gate -   26—Capacitor, Unipolar Precharged NAND or NOR Gate -   27—Capacitor, Unipolar Precharged or Clocked NAND or NOR Gate, Low     Power Circuit -   28, 29 and 30—NMOS Transistors, Unipolar Precharged or Clocked NAND     or NOR Gate, Low Power Circuit -   31—Vdd -   32—CLK, Unipolar Precharged NAND or NOR Gate -   33—A input to NAND or NOR Gate -   34—B input to NAND or NOR Gate -   35—Output of NAND or NOR Gate -   36—Ground -   38—Low power circuitry of Unipolar Precharged or Clocked NAND Gate -   39—Low power circuitry of Unipolar Precharged or Clocked NOR,     Inverter or Buffer Gate -   41—R interconnect line of Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate -   42—T interconnect line of Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate -   43—U interconnect line of Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate -   47—Capacitor, Unipolar Clocked Buffer Gate, Low Power Circuit -   61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, and 71—NMOS Transistors,     Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate -   72 and 73—Capacitors, Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate -   92—CLK, Unipolar Precharged NAND or NOR Gate -   93 —Ā input to Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate -   94 —B input to Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate -   95 —Output, Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate -   101—First Unipolar Precharged NAND Gate -   110—Semiconductor column (transistor stack of one or more columnar     logic gates) -   111—First NMOS transistor in semiconductor column -   112—Second NMOS transistor in semiconductor column -   113—Pullup transistor in semiconductor column -   113-1—First pullup transistor in semiconductor column -   113-2—Second pullup transistor in semiconductor column -   114—Unified semiconductor region in semiconductor column -   115—Unified metal region in semiconductor column -   116—First PMOS transistor in semiconductor column -   117—Second PMOS transistor in semiconductor column -   118—Pulldown transistor in semiconductor column -   119—Routing pin for inputs and outputs of columnar logic gates -   120—Pitch between routing pins of input and output signals to the     semiconductor column of a columnar logic gate -   121—First conductive column of columnar logic gate -   122—Second conductive column of columnar logic gate -   123—Third conductive column of columnar logic gate -   124—Unified Vdd region in semiconductor column shared for two     columnar logic gates -   125—Unified Gnd region in semiconductor column shared for two     columnar logic gates -   126—Common input electrodes to the columnar logic gate -   127—Transistor gate contact -   128—Interconnection layer above the columnar logic gate -   129—Interconnection layer below the columnar logic gate -   130—Vdd common electrode of columnar logic gate -   131—Ground (Vss) common electrode of columnar logic gate -   133—Clock (CLK) common input to columnar logic gate -   134—Common body bias electrode for voltage Vp applied to p-channel     body -   135—Common body bias electrode for voltage Vn applied to n-channel     body -   136—A input to columnar logic gate -   137—B input to columnar logic gate -   138—Output of columnar logic gate -   139—Contact interface region of body bias and semiconductor channel     material -   140—Routing lanes for common electrodes (Vdd, Gnd, Clk, Vn, Vp) and     optional inter-gate routing of Input or Output signals -   141—First columnar logic gate in stack of multiple columnar logic     gates -   142—Second columnar logic gate in stack of multiple columnar logic     gates -   143—Third columnar logic gate in stack of multiple columnar logic     gates -   144—Fourth columnar logic gate in stack of multiple columnar logic     gates -   145—Routing electrodes for neighboring gate outputs -   146—Routing electrodes for neighboring gate inputs -   147—Conductive column -   148—Array of columnar logic gates -   150—Pitch between routing pins of input and output signals of     adjacent columnar logic gates -   151—First columnar logic gate in array of columnar logic gates -   152—Second columnar logic gate in array of columnar logic gates -   154—Fourth conductive column of columnar logic gate -   161—Capacitor -   162—Dielectric layer between capacitor plates -   163—First NMOS transistor, unipolar latched NOR gate -   164—Second NMOS transistor, unipolar latched NOR gate -   165—Pulldown transistor, unipolar latched NOR gate -   166—Anode of capacitor -   167—Cathode of capacitor -   168—Fifth conductive column, Intragate routing electrode, unipolar     latched NOR gate -   173—First PMOS transistor, unipolar latched NOR gate -   174—Second PMOS transistor, unipolar latched NOR gate -   175—Pullup transistor, unipolar latched NOR gate -   180—One of multiple interconnection layers in a 3D circuit -   181—One of multiple CLG or S-CLG layers in a 3D circuit -   201—Second Unipolar Precharged NAND Gate -   301—Third Unipolar Precharged NAND Gate -   313—Intermediate routing line in Z-direction for Vdd (31) -   331—Intermediate routing line in X-direction for A input (33) -   332—Intermediate routing line in Y-direction for A input (33) -   333—Intermediate routing line in Z-direction for A input (33) -   351—Intermediate routing line in X-direction for Output (35) -   353—Intermediate routing line in Z-direction for Output (35) -   951—Intermediate routing line in X-direction for Output (95) -   953—Intermediate routing line in Z-direction for Output (95) -   BEOL—Back End of Line -   CNT—Carbon Nanotube -   F—Minimum feature size as limited by lithography process or design     rule for layout -   GND—Ground (Vss) -   IGZO—Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide -   Out—Output of logic gate -   TFT—Thin Film Transistor -   CLG—Columnar logic gate -   S-CLG—Stacked Columnar logic gates

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A—Unipolar Precharged NAND Gate Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 1B—Unipolar Precharged NAND Gate Low Power Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 1C—Unipolar Precharged NOR Gate Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 1D—Unipolar Precharged NOR Gate Low Power Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 1E—Unipolar Clocked NAND Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 1F—Unipolar Clocked NOR Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 1G—Unipolar Clocked Inverter Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 1H—Unipolar Clocked Buffer Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 1I—Unipolar Clocked NAND Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 1J—Unipolar Clocked NOR Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 1K—Unipolar Clocked Inverter Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 1L—Unipolar Clocked Inverter Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 2—Sequential Precharged NAND Gate Circuits according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 3—CLK and CLK signals for Precharged Logic Circuits according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 4—Logic blocks according to the prior art

FIG. 5—Clocked Logic Blocks according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6A—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Precharged NAND Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6B—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Precharged NAND Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6C—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Precharged NOR Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6D—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Precharged NOR Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6E—Top view of the Top Layer Connections of a Vertical Unipolar Precharged NAND or NOR Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6F—Top view of the Bottom Layer Connections of a Vertical Unipolar Precharged NAND or NOR Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6G—An illustration of an array of Vertical Unipolar Precharged NAND or NOR Gates with an average cell size approximately equal to 20 F² according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6H—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Precharged NAND Gate Low Power Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6I—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Precharged NAND Gate Low Power Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6J—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Precharged NOR Gate Low Power Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6K—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Precharged NOR Gate Low Power Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6L—Top view of the Top Layer Connections of a Vertical Unipolar Precharged NAND Gate Low Power Circuit or NOR Gate Low Power Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6M—Top view of the Bottom Layer Connections of a Vertical Unipolar Precharged NAND Gate Low Power Circuit or NOR Gate Low Power Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6N—An illustration of an array of Vertical Unipolar Precharged NAND or NOR Gates Low Power Circuits with an average cell size approximately equal to 24 F² according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6O—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Clocked NAND Gate Low Power Circuit Single CLK Per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6P—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Clocked NAND Gate Low Power Circuit Single CLK Per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6Q—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Clocked NOR Gate Low Power Circuit Single CLK Per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6R—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Clocked NOR Gate Low Power Circuit Single CLK Per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6S—Top view of the Top Layer Connections of a Vertical Unipolar Clocked NAND Gate Low Power Circuit or NOR Gate Low Power Circuit, Single CLK Per Gate, according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6T—Top view of the Bottom Layer Connections of a Vertical Unipolar Clocked NAND Gate Low Power Circuit or NOR Gate Low Power Circuit, Single CLK Per Gate, according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6U—An illustration of an array of Vertical Unipolar Clocked NAND or NOR Gates Low Power Circuits, Single CLK Per Gate, with an average cell size approximately equal to 22 F² according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6V—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Clocked NAND Gate Low Power Circuit Single CLK Per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6W—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Clocked NAND Gate Low Power Circuit Single CLK Per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6X—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Clocked NOR Gate Low Power Circuit Single CLK Per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 6Y—Cross-section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Clocked NOR Gate Low Power Circuit Single CLK Per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 7—A Unipolar Bootstrap NAND Gate Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 8A—Cross section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 8B—Cross section view of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 8C—Top view of the Top Layer Connections of a Vertical Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 8D—Top view of the Bottom Layer Connections of a Vertical Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 8E—Illustrations of arrays of Vertical Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gates with average cell sizes ranging from approximately 34 F² to 36 F² according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 9A—Unipolar Precharged NAND Gate Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 9B—Unipolar Precharged NAND Gate Low Power Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 9C—Unipolar Precharged NOR Gate Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 9D—Unipolar Precharged NOR Gate Low Power Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 9E—Unipolar Clocked NAND Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 9F—Unipolar Clocked NOR Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 9G—Unipolar Clocked Inverter Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 9H—Unipolar Clocked Buffer Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 9I—Unipolar Clocked NAND Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 9J—Unipolar Clocked NOR Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 9K—Unipolar Clocked Inverter Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 9L—Unipolar Clocked Inverter Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 10—Sequential Precharged NAND Gate Circuits according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 11a —Unipolar Clocked Inverter Circuit

FIG. 11b —Unipolar Clocked Inverter Circuit—Simulation

FIG. 12a —Unipolar Clocked Buffer Circuit

FIG. 12b —Unipolar Clocked Buffer Circuit Simulation

FIG. 13a —Unipolar Clocked NAND Circuit

FIG. 13b —Unipolar Clocked NAND Circuit Simulation

FIG. 14a —Unipolar Clocked 3 NAND Circuit

FIG. 14b —Unipolar Clocked 3 NAND Circuit Simulation

FIG. 15A is a cross-sectional view of a columnar logic gate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15B is a cross-sectional view of a columnar logic gate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15C is a top plan view of a columnar logic gate with minimally spaced pins according to an embodiment to the present invention.

FIG. 15D is a cross-sectional view of a columnar logic gate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15E is a top plan view of a columnar logic gate with minimally spaced pins according to an embodiment to the present invention.

FIG. 16A is a cross-sectional view of a columnar NAND gate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16B is a cross-sectional view of a columnar NAND gate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16C is a cross-sectional view of a columnar NOR gate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16D is a cross-sectional view of a columnar NOR gate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a top plan view of the routing pins of a columnar NAND or NOR gate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a top plan view of an array of columnar NAND or NOR logic gates according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19A is a cross-sectional view of stacked columnar NAND gates with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19B is a cross-sectional view of stacked columnar NAND gates with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a cross-sectional view of a columnar NAND gate with body bias and multiple lanes adjacent to gate for routing input or output signals according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21A is a top plan view of the routing pins of stacked columnar NAND or NOR gates with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21B is a top plan view of an array of a stacked columnar NAND or NOR logic gates with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22A is a cross-sectional view of a columnar NAND gate with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22B is a cross-sectional view of a columnar NAND gate with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a top plan view of the routing pins of a columnar NAND or NOR gate with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a top plan view of an array of columnar NAND or NOR logic gates with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 25A is a cross-sectional view of a columnar NAND gate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 25B is a cross-sectional view of a columnar NAND gate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 26A is a top plan view of the routing pins of a columnar NAND gate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 26B is a top plan view of an array of columnar NAND logic gates according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27A is a schematic diagram of a unipolar latched NOR gate (N-type).

FIG. 27B is a cross-sectional view of a columnar unipolar latched NOR gate (N-type) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27C is a cross-sectional view of a columnar unipolar latched NOR gate (N-type) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27D is a top plan view of the routing pins (top and bottom connections) of a columnar unipolar latched NOR gate (N-type) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27E is a schematic diagram of a unipolar latched NOR gate (P-type).

FIG. 27F is a cross-sectional view of a columnar unipolar latched NOR gate (P-type) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27G is a cross-sectional view of a columnar unipolar latched NOR gate (P-type) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27H is a top plan view of the routing pins (top and bottom connections) of a columnar unipolar latched NOR gate (P-type) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 28 is a top plan view of an array of columnar unipolar latched NOR logic gates (N or P type) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29A is a cross-sectional view of a columnar unipolar latched NOR gate (N-type) with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29B is a cross-sectional view of a columnar unipolar latched NOR gate (N-type) with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29C is a cross-sectional view of a columnar unipolar latched NOR gate (N-type) with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29D is a cross-sectional view of a columnar unipolar latched NOR gate (N-type) with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29E is a top plan view of the routing pins (top and bottom connections) of a columnar unipolar latched NOR gate (N-type) with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29F is a top plan view of an array of columnar unipolar latched NOR logic gates (N-type) with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 30 is a schematic diagram of a 3D integrated circuit comprising multiple levels of CLGs or S-CLGs and related interconnection layers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

2.5D and 3D integrated circuits is an area with much ongoing development in methods to improve performance, increase density and reduce die size (cost). The conventional method to achieve improved performance in integrated circuits was to port the circuit design to a smaller feature size (F) or technology node—for example, from 130 nm to 90 nm to 65 nm and so forth. The industry wide Moore's Law was known for the principle that the speed and capability of computers can be expected to double every two years, as a result of increases in the number of transistors a microchip can contain by virtue of smaller feature sizes enabled by improved lithography equipment and processes. The principle has held true for many years with expected cost reduction per transistor with the reduction in feature size. However, as feature sizes reached 20 nm and lower, the cost per transistor has increased due to the high costs of implementing such small feature sizes. Many industry experts feel Moore's Law has reached the physical limit at 5 nm and hence, other methods—beyond improved lithography—are needed to enable continued density and performance improvements in integrated circuits at reasonable costs. Industry developments and proposals for three dimensional (3D) circuits have mainly focused on stacking of multiple die rather than monolithic fabrication of 3D circuits as disclosed herein. The industry has been tied to the crystalline silicon substrate. The invention disclosed herein is not restricted to a particular substrate and therefore enables an innovative approach to true monolithic 3D integrated circuits.

Conventional integrated circuits are designed in a planar layout configuration due to the fact the crystalline silicon substrate is electrically coupled to the integrated circuit. Planar layouts of logic gates—such as CMOS NAND or NOR gates—may occupy upwards of 150 F² in die area. Free from the anchor of electrically coupling the substrate to the circuit, monolithic 3D semiconductor columns may be fabricated which allows for logic gates occupying less than 20% of the planar silicon counterparts, or even close to 10% of the area.

The present disclosure is related to monolithic 3D integrated circuits comprised of columnar logic gates (CLGs) constructed in a vertical fashion and comprising a semiconductor column and conductive columns which may be equidistant from the semiconductor column for routing the inputs and outputs whereby the inputs and outputs are accessible for connection from either above or below the columnar logic gate or both. The pin connections at interconnection layers above or below the columnar logic gate may be minimally spaced from the semiconductor column and from pins of adjacent columnar logic gates at a distance of 1 F thereby enabling much higher density circuitry compared to conventional planar circuit designs and related routing. Pins at the interconnection layers are only for input (e.g., A, B, Clock, Vdd, Gnd, Vp, Vn) and output signals. Intra-gate routing and transistor gate contacts are all positioned within the vertical (z-axis) distance of the semiconductor column and not at an interconnection layer. Employing TFTs enables low cost manufacturing and high density circuits by enabling multiple stacks of columnar logic gates and interconnection layers.

The columnar logic gates are preferably constructed with a core vertical stack of source, body and drain layers—or semiconductor column. Such a construction is analogous to the methods employed in fabrication of 3D NAND flash devices which allows for low cost manufacturing through reduction in masks and processing steps. The fabrication of the transistors via sequential deposition of source, body, and drain layers allows for very thin (short) transistor channel lengths without the need for lithography equipment capable of such channel lengths. For example, a semiconductor fab may be used to construct columnar logic gates which have transistor channel lengths of 10 nm or even less regardless of the minimum feature size of the lithography equipment employed at the facility which could be greater than 100 nm.

The semiconductor column is preferably made with thin film transistors (TFTs) which may be fabricated at back end of line (BEOL) temperatures of less than 450 F, thereby allowing for low cost manufacturing and high density by enabling multiple stacks of CLGs and interconnection layers.

The high density CLGs described herein enable circuit devices with high density, low power and high speed due to drastically reduced interconnect distances which may be fabricated at reduced costs compared to current methods employed in the semiconductor field.

FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of a unipolar precharged NAND gate circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. When CLK (32) is driven high, A (33) and B (34) can change, transistor (21) turns on and capacitor (26) is charged to Vdd. Further, when CLK (32) is driven high, CLK (92) is driven low and there is no other path for Vdd other than charging capacitor (26). When CLK (32) is driven low, A (33) and B (34) cannot change, CLK (92) is driven high and the charge on capacitor (26) is available to drive the Output (35) high provided either A (33) or B (34) are low. The only manner for a low output is when A (33) and B (34) are both high. Transistor (25) does not allow any changes of A (33) or B (34) to propagate to Output (35) when CLK (92) is not asserted (driven low). Every clock cycle of which the output is to be pulled low, the charge from capacitor (26) is pulled to ground through transistors (22, 23 and 24). Additional logic circuitry, FIG. 1B (38), may be employed to keep the capacitor (26) from discharging to ground when A (33) and B (34) are both high; this would provide for lower power circuitry.

FIG. 1B is such an example of a unipolar precharged NAND gate low power circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. When A (33) and B (34) are on (high) the Output (35) is to be pulled low, but it is desirable to not discharge capacitor (26). The point of the additional circuitry is to turn off transistor (22) when both A (33) and B (34) are on (high). When A (33) and B (34) are on, transistors (28) and (22) are turned off (low), thereby not providing a path for capacitor (26) to discharge to ground. In order for transistor (22) to turn on (high), either A (33) or B (34) is off (low), thereby not providing a path for the gate of transistor (22) to ground. Further, when either A (33) or B (34) is off (low), it is desirable that CLK (92) drives the gate of transistor (22). When CLK (92) is driven high, capacitor (27) will bump up the voltage of the gate of transistor (22) and the gate of transistor (28). When the gate of transistor (28) reaches its threshold voltage, transistor (28) turns on allowing the voltage of CLK (92) to propagate to the gate of transistor (22). This allows the charge on capacitor (26) to propagate to the Output (35).

FIG. 1C is a schematic diagram of a unipolar precharged NOR gate circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. When CLK (32) is driven high, A (33) and B (34) can change, transistor (21) turns on and capacitor (26) is charged to Vdd. Further, when CLK (32) is driven high, CLK (92) is driven low and there is no other path for Vdd other than charging capacitor (26). When CLK (32) is driven low, A (33) and B (34) cannot change, CLK (92) is driven high and the charge on capacitor (26) is available to drive the Output (35) high provided both A (33) and B (34) are low. The only manner for a low output is when A (33) or B (34) are both high. Transistor (25) does not allow any changes of A (33) or B (34) to propagate to Output (35) when CLK (92) is not asserted. Every clock cycle, of which the output is to be pulled low, the charge from capacitor (26) is pulled to ground through transistors (22 and 23 or 22 and 24). Additional logic circuitry, FIG. 1D (39), may be employed to keep the capacitor (26) from discharging to ground when A (33) or B (34) is high; this would provide for lower power circuitry.

FIG. 1D is such an example of a unipolar precharged NOR gate low power circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. When A (33) or B (34) is on (high) the Output (35) is to be pulled low, but it is desirable to not discharge capacitor (26). The point of the additional circuitry is to turn off transistor (22) when either A (33) or B (34) is on (high). When A (33) or B (34) is on, transistors (28 and 22) are turned off (low), thereby not providing a path for capacitor (26) to discharge to ground. In order for transistor (22) to turn on (high), both A (33) and B (34) must be off (low), thereby not providing a path for the gate of transistor (22) to ground. Further, when both A (33) and B (34) are off (low), it is desirable that CLK (92) drives the gate of transistor (22). When CLK (92) is driven high, capacitor (27) will bump up the voltage of the gate of transistor (22) and the gate of transistor (28). When the gate of transistor (28) reaches its threshold voltage, transistor (28) turns on allowing the voltage of CLK (92) to propagate to the gate of transistor (22). This allows the charge on capacitor (26) to propagate to the output.

There are numerous reasons for implementing unipolar logic. Unipolar logic is not often used because of the drawbacks of implementing unipolar logic. For example, NMOS logic utilizes a resistor to pull the voltages high. These resistors draw current too much of the time resulting in high power consumption. If the resistors are higher valued to reduce to power consumption, the speed suffers (i.e., speed is reduced). Other methods known in the art require too many transistors and tend to be slow speed compared to conventional CMOS. As known in the art, system speed has been increasing for some time and as of late the increases in speed has slowed. Historically there have been two methods to increase the speed. One method is the reduction in gate length which increases transistor speed and increases density which decreases parasitic losses due to capacitance, inductance and resistance. The other method is to reduce the path length from latch to latch.

The methods outlined below, related to FIG. 1E and FIG. 1F, improve the clock speed by reducing the logic path between gates to a minimum. Effectively, every gate is clocked providing for a maximum of clock speed. Clocking each gate in conventional CMOS logic is not often done due to the increase in number of latches that would be required. With approximately 8 transistors per latch, that would be not feasible. In FIGS. 1E, 1F, 1G, 1H, 1I, 1J, 1K and 1L we have created a methodology in circuitry which enables unipolar logic at very high speed clocking at each gate. It utilizes a clock at each gate to bootstrap the voltage so there's no loss due to threshold voltage drop. We refer to this methodology as Unipolar Clocked Logic.

FIG. 1E is an example of an improved unipolar Clocked NAND gate low power circuit single clock according to an embodiment of the present invention. When A (33) and B (34) are on (high) the Output (35) is to be pulled low when CLK (10) is asserted. The Output (35) can only change and only be driven when the CLK (10) is asserted. For the Output (35) to be asserted low, transistors (25, 23 and 24) are on and transistor (22) is off. In order for transistor (22) to be off, transistors (29 and 30) are on. For the Output (35) to be asserted high, transistors (25, 22, and 28) are on and transistors (23 or 24) are off. In order for transistor (22) to be on, CLK (10) increases in voltage causing an increase in voltage on gate of transistor (22) through capacitor (27). This increase in voltage will be reduced if transistors (29 and 30) are on. If either (29 or 30) are off, transistors (28 and 22) will turn on. When CLK (10) is not asserted the Output (35) node is floating and the parasitic capacitance will maintain the state for some period of time. When A (33) and B (34) are not both high (on), it is desirable with NAND gate logic to pull the Output (35) high. In order for the Output (35) to go high, the gate of transistor (22) needs to be high. Transistor (22) gate goes high when either A (33) or B (34) are off and CLK (10) is high. When the gate of transistor (25) gate goes high, the Output (35) is enabled. The requirements on the voltage of the Output (35) is that it must exceed the threshold voltage of the unipolar (e.g., NMOS) transistor.

FIG. 1F is an example of an improved unipolar Clocked NOR gate low power circuit single clock according to an embodiment of the present invention. When A (33) or B (34) are on (high) the Output (35) is to be pulled low when CLK (10) is asserted. The Output (35) can only change and only be driven when the CLK (10) is asserted. For the Output (35) to be asserted low, transistors (25 and 23 or 25 and 24) are on and transistor (22) is off. In order for transistor (22) to be off, transistors (29 or 30) are on. For the Output (35) to be asserted high, transistors (25, 22, and 28) are on and transistors (23 and 24) are off. In order for transistor (22) to be on, CLK (10) increases in voltage causing an increase in voltage on gate of transistor (22) through capacitor (27). This increase in voltage will be reduced if transistors (29 or 30) are on. If both (29 and 30) are off, transistors (28 and 22) will turn on. When CLK (10) is not asserted the Output (35) node is floating and the parasitic capacitance will maintain the state for some period of time. When A (33) and B (34) are not both high (on), it is desirable with NOR gate logic to pull the Output (35) high. In order for the Output (35) to go high, the gate of transistor (22) needs to be high. Transistor (22) gate goes high when both A (33) and B (34) are off and CLK (10) is high. When the gate of transistor (25) gate goes high, the Output (35) is enabled. The requirements on the voltage of the Output (35) is that it must exceed the threshold voltage of the unipolar (e.g., NMOS) transistor.

Other examples of Unipolar Clocked Logic circuits include an inverter gate, FIG. 1G or FIG. 1L—Unipolar Clocked Inverter Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate and a buffer gate, FIG. 1H—Unipolar Clocked Buffer Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate.

Simplified circuitry employing Unipolar Clocked Logic may be possible by removing transistor (28) in FIGS. 1E, 1F, 1G and 1L due to the edge rate of the clock and the value of the capacitor (27) will cause the gate voltage on transistor (22) to be sufficient without requiring transistor (28). FIGS. 1I, 1J and 1K illustrate such simplified circuits for unipolar clocked logic NAND, NOR and Inverter gates respectively.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of sequential precharged NAND gate circuits according to an embodiment of the present invention. A first unipolar precharged NAND gate (101) and a second unipolar precharged NAND gate (201) operate in parallel and the outputs are propagated on CLK (92). The outputs of NAND gate (101) and NAND gate (201) are inputs to a third unipolar precharged NAND gate (301). NAND gate (301) output is propagated on CLK (32) and not on CLK (92). Alternating the clock phase of serially connected logic gates prevents signals from propagating through more than one gate at a time or shooting through clock cycles. Such a clock phase arrangement can prevent crowbar currents while input voltages are undergoing transient behavior.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the CLK and CLK signals for Precharged Logic Circuits according to an embodiment of the present invention. The CLK and CLK signals are asymmetrical to each other and no time interval between the rise of one and the fall of the other is required. Such a complementary clocking scheme can be used because of the alternating clock phases of serially connected logic gates. Such clock phasing minimizes stringent timing requirements of clocking edges.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating logic blocks according to the prior art. Conventional circuit designs can employ registers interposed between blocks of logic. Such interposed registers can be called pipeline design of logic. In such pipeline designs, a maximum clock speed can be limited by the setup and hold time of the register plus the delay time of the blocks of logic.

All of the unipolar logic circuits described herein are clocked logic blocks including the precharged logic (FIG. 1A-1D), clocked logic (FIGS. 1E-1H) and bootstrapped logic (FIG. 2). FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating clocked logic blocks according to an embodiment of the present invention. In contrast to FIG. 4, separate registers are not needed for logic blocks because each gate acts as its own register. Further, the load capacitance acts as a storage element to store the output state. Such clocking schemes provide a dynamic register capability to the logic block. The clock speed for such clocked logic cells can be determined by the time is takes to charge the load capacitance. Therefore, the clock speed of the present inventions can be much higher than that required by standard logic such as FIG. 4

FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B are cross-sectional views of a vertical structure of a unipolar precharged NAND gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. Vertical logic gates as described in co-pending applications 62/252,522 filed, Nov. 8, 2015 and PCT/US2016/24173, filed Mar. 25, 2016, may be employed to fabricate the logic gates of the present invention. FIGS. 6A and 6B are cross-sectioned in quadrature planes (planes whose normal vectors are orthogonal to one another). Both FIGS. 6A and 6B section through an active column (e.g., a column of semiconductor material in which active devices can be fabricated). The semiconductor layers of transistors (21, 22, 23, 24 and 25) of FIG. 1A are all fabricated in a single stack. The transistor channel lengths are determined by deposition and not by lithography. This allows very high density circuitry and very high speed. The manufacturing methodology for fabricating the structure shown in FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B can be similar to methods employed by the flash memory industry for making 3D NAND and other 3D non-volatile memory devices. The gates of the transistors may be of the surrounding gate type thereby permitting better performance. Transistors (23) and (24) are shown to have a common N-type layer in between the transistors; alternatively, one may separate the transistors and connect them with a metal interconnect.

FIG. 6C and FIG. 6D are cross-sectional views of a vertical structure of a unipolar precharged NOR gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. Vertical logic gates as described in co-pending applications 62/252,522 filed, Nov. 8, 2015 and PCT/US2016/24173, filed Mar. 25, 2016, may be employed to fabricate the logic gates of the present invention. FIGS. 6C and 6D are cross-sectioned in quadrature planes (planes whose normal vectors are orthogonal to one another). Both FIGS. 6C and 6D section through an active column (e.g., a column of semiconductor material in which active devices can be fabricated). The semiconductor layers of transistors (21, 22, 23, 24 and 25) of FIG. 1C are all fabricated in a single stack. The transistor channel lengths are determined by deposition and not by lithography. This allows very high density circuitry and very high speed. The manufacturing methodology for fabricating the structure shown in FIG. 6C and FIG. 6D can be similar to methods employed by the flash memory industry for making 3D NAND and other 3D non-volatile memory devices. The gates of the transistors may be of the surrounding gate type thereby permitting better performance.

FIG. 6E is a top view of the top layer connections of a vertical unipolar precharged NAND or NOR gate according to an embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 6F is a top view of the bottom layer connections of a vertical unipolar precharged NAND or NOR gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 6E and 6F depict the top and bottom views, respectively, of the vertical structure of a unipolar precharged NAND or NOR gate depicted in FIGS. 6A-6B or FIGS. 6C-6D respectively. Connections for gate routing may be made to the vertical gates either from above or below the structure. To maximize density, the output (35) is made from the bottom only in FIG. 6F. Alternatively, output (35) may be routed to the top (not shown), however, that may increase the gate cell area. Other arrangements of connections may also be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. FIG. 6G is an illustration of one method of creating an array of Vertical Unipolar Precharged NAND and/or NOR Gates with an average cell size approximately equal to 20 F² according to an embodiment of the present invention. Other orientations than shown in FIG. 6G may be designed including flipping a portion or all of the gates in the X, Y, or Z direction. This is a factor of about 5 times smaller compared to conventional planar CMOS logic. In addition to a large increase in density, the short interconnect between logic gates provides for much faster speed of operation.

FIG. 6H and FIG. 6I are cross-sectional views of a vertical structure of a unipolar precharged NAND gate low power circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. Vertical logic gates as described in co-pending applications 62/252,522 filed, Nov. 8, 2015 and PCT/US2016/24173, filed Mar. 25, 2016, may be employed to fabricate the logic gates of the present invention. FIGS. 6H and 6I are cross-sectioned in quadrature planes (planes whose normal vectors are orthogonal to one another). Both FIGS. 6H and 6I section through an active column (e.g., a column of semiconductor material in which active devices can be fabricated). The semiconductor layers of transistors (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29 and 30) of FIG. 1B and capacitor (27) are all fabricated in a single stack. The transistor channel lengths are determined by deposition and not by lithography. This allows very high density circuitry and very high speed. The manufacturing methodology for fabricating the structure shown in FIG. 6H and FIG. 6I can be similar to methods employed by the flash memory industry for making 3D NAND and other 3D non-volatile memory devices. The gates of the transistors may be of the surrounding gate type thereby permitting better performance. Transistors (23) and (24) are shown to have a common N-type layer in between the transistors as are transistors (29) and (30); alternatively, one may separate the transistors and connect them with a metal interconnect.

FIG. 6J and FIG. 6K are cross-sectional views of a vertical structure of a unipolar precharged NOR gate low power circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. Vertical logic gates as described in co-pending applications 62/252,522 filed, Nov. 8, 2015 and PCT/US2016/24173, filed Mar. 25, 2016, may be employed to fabricate the logic gates of the present invention. FIGS. 6J and 6K are cross-sectioned in quadrature planes (planes whose normal vectors are orthogonal to one another). Both FIGS. 6J and 6K section through an active column (e.g., a column of semiconductor material in which active devices can be fabricated). The semiconductor layers of transistors (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, and 30) and capacitor (27) of FIG. 1D are all fabricated in a single stack. The transistor channel lengths are determined by deposition and not by lithography. This allows very high density circuitry and very high speed. The manufacturing methodology for fabricating the structure shown in FIG. 6J and FIG. 6K can be similar to methods employed by the flash memory industry for making 3D NAND and other 3D non-volatile memory devices. The gates of the transistors may be of the surrounding gate type thereby permitting better performance.

FIG. 6L is a top view of the top layer connections of a vertical unipolar precharged NAND or NOR gate low power circuits according to an embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 6M is a top view of the bottom layer connections of a vertical unipolar precharged NAND or NOR gate low power circuits according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 6L and 6M depict the top and bottom views, respectively, of the vertical structure of a unipolar precharged NAND or NOR gate low power circuits depicted in FIGS. 6H-6I or FIGS. 6J-6K respectively. Connections for gate routing may be made to the vertical gates either from above or below the structure. To maximize density, the output (35) is made from the bottom only in FIG. 6M. Alternatively, output (35) may be routed to the top (not shown), however, that may increase the gate cell area. Other arrangements of connections may also be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. FIG. 6N is an illustration of one method of creating an array of Vertical Unipolar Precharged NAND and/or NOR Gates low power circuits with an average cell size approximately equal to 24 F² according to an embodiment of the present invention. Other orientations than shown in FIG. 6N may be designed including flipping a portion or all of the gates in the X, Y, or Z direction. This is a factor of about 5 times smaller compared to conventional planar CMOS logic. In addition to a large increase in density, the short interconnect between logic gates provides for much faster speed of operation. The average cell size area of the low power unipolar precharged NAND and NOR gate circuits shown in FIGS. 6H, 6I, 6J, 6K, 6L and 6M is only slightly larger (about 1-2 F²) compared to the unipolar precharged NAND and NOR gate circuits shown in FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, 6E and 6F that do not have the additional low power circuitry employed.

FIG. 6O and FIG. 6P are cross-section views of a vertical structure of a unipolar clocked NAND gate low power circuit single CLK per gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. Vertical logic gates as described in co-pending applications 62/252,522 filed, Nov. 8, 2015 and PCT/US2016/24173, filed Mar. 25, 2016, may be employed to fabricate the logic gates of the present invention. FIGS. 6O and 6P are cross-sectioned in quadrature planes (planes whose normal vectors are orthogonal to one another). Both FIGS. 6O and 6P section through an active column (e.g., a column of semiconductor material in which active devices can be fabricated). The semiconductor layers of transistors (22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29 and 30) of FIG. 1E and capacitor (27) are all fabricated in a single stack. The transistor channel lengths are determined by deposition and not by lithography. This allows very high density circuitry and very high speed. The manufacturing methodology for fabricating the structure shown in FIG. 6O and FIG. 6P can be similar to methods employed by the flash memory industry for making 3D NAND and other 3D non-volatile memory devices. The gates of the transistors may be of the surrounding gate type thereby permitting better performance. Transistors (23) and (24) are shown to have a common N-type layer in between the transistors as are transistors (29) and (30); alternatively, one may separate the transistors and connect them with a metal interconnect.

FIG. 6V and FIG. 6W are cross-section views of a vertical structure of a unipolar clocked NAND gate low power circuit single CLK per gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. This structure is a simplified NAND gate whereby transistor (28) is eliminated due to the edge rate of the clock and the value of the capacitor (27) will cause the gate voltage on transistor (22) to be sufficient without requiring transistor (28). This structure, representing the circuit shown in FIG. 1I, reduces the number of layers compared to FIG. 6O and FIG. 6P, which represents the circuit in FIG. 1E, and hence, would lower the cost of fabrication.

FIG. 6Q and FIG. 6R are cross-section views of a vertical structure of a unipolar clocked NOR gate low power circuit single CLK per gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. Vertical logic gates as described in co-pending applications 62/252,522 filed, Nov. 8, 2015 and PCT/US2016/24173, filed Mar. 25, 2016, may be employed to fabricate the logic gates of the present invention. FIGS. 6Q and 6R are cross-sectioned in quadrature planes (planes whose normal vectors are orthogonal to one another). Both FIGS. 6Q and 6R section through an active column (e.g., a column of semiconductor material in which active devices can be fabricated). The semiconductor layers of transistors (22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, and 30) and capacitor (27) of FIG. 1F are all fabricated in a single stack. The transistor channel lengths are determined by deposition and not by lithography. This allows very high density circuitry and very high speed. The manufacturing methodology for fabricating the structure shown in FIG. 6Q and FIG. 6R can be similar to methods employed by the flash memory industry for making 3D NAND and other 3D non-volatile memory devices. The gates of the transistors may be of the surrounding gate type thereby permitting better performance.

FIG. 6X and FIG. 6Y are cross-section views of a vertical structure of a unipolar clocked NOR gate low power circuit single CLK per gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. This structure is a simplified NOR gate whereby transistor (28) is eliminated due to the edge rate of the clock and the value of the capacitor (27) will cause the gate voltage on transistor (22) to be sufficient without requiring transistor (28). This structure, representing the circuit shown in FIG. 1J, reduces the number of layers compared to FIG. 6Q and FIG. 6R, which represents the circuit in FIG. 1F, and hence, would lower the cost of fabrication.

FIG. 6S is a top view of the top layer connections of a vertical unipolar clocked NAND or NOR gate low power circuits, one CLK per gate, according to an embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 6T is a top view of the bottom layer connections of a vertical unipolar clocked NAND or NOR gate low power circuits, one CLK per gate, according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 6S and 6T depict the top and bottom views, respectively, of the vertical structure of a unipolar clocked NAND or NOR gate low power circuits, one CLK per gate, depicted in FIGS. 1E and 6O-6P, FIGS. 1F and 6Q-6R, FIGS. 1I and 6V-6W, or FIGS. 1J and 6X-6Y. Connections for gate routing may be made to the vertical gates either from above or below the structure. To maximize density, the output (35) is made from the bottom only in FIG. 6T. Alternatively, output (35) may be routed to the top (not shown), however, that may increase the gate cell area. Other arrangements of connections may also be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. FIG. 6U is an illustration of one method of creating an array of Vertical Unipolar Clocked NAND and/or NOR Gates low power circuits, one CLK per gate, with an average cell size approximately equal to 24 F² according to an embodiment of the present invention. Other orientations than shown in FIG. 6U may be designed including flipping a portion or all of the gates in the X, Y, or Z direction. This is a factor of about 5 times smaller compared to conventional planar CMOS logic. In addition to a large increase in density, the short interconnect between logic gates provides for much faster speed of operation. The average cell size area of the low power clocked NAND and NOR gate circuits, one CLK per gate, shown in FIGS. 6O, 6P, 6Q, 6R, 6S, 6T, 6V, 6W, 6X and 6Y is only slightly larger (about 1-2 F²) compared to the NAND and NOR gate circuits shown in FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, 6E and 6F that do not have the additional low power circuitry employed. A further advantage of the unipolar clocked gate circuits shown in FIGS. 6O, 6P, 6Q, 6R, 6S, 6T, 6V, 6W, 6X and 6Y is that both inputs A (33) and B (34) are accessible for connection from either the top (above) or bottom (below) of the gate structure. This provides great flexibility in design and minimizes the probability of circuit designs from being routing limited as opposed to gate limited.

In FIGS. 6A-6Y, various architectures for three dimensional integrated logic circuit that includes a columnar active region. Within the columnar active region resides an interdigitated plurality of semiconductor columns and conductive columns. A plurality of transistors is vertically arranged along each semiconductor column, which extends from a bottom surface of the columnar logic region to a top surface of the columnar logic region. The plurality of transistors are electrically interconnected so as to perform a logic function and to generate a logic output signal at a logic output port in response to a logic input signal received at a logic input port. Each of the plurality of conductive columns is adjacent to at least one of the plurality of semiconductor columns and extends along a columnar axis to the top surface and/or the bottom surface of the columnar active layer.

In FIGS. 6A and 6B, for example, the columnar active region (or columnar active layer) is shown between top and bottom routing layers. The columnar active region includes a semiconductor column and various conductive columns. The semiconductor column includes transistors 21-25. The columnar active region also includes conductive columns 33, 34, and 35, as well as conductive columns 32 and 92. The logic function realized in FIGS. 6A and 6B is a precharged NAND gate (as schematically depicted in FIG. 1A0, but various other logic functions can be created in such a columnar fashion. The precharged NAND gate depicted in FIGS. 6A and 6B has four input ports—CLK 32, CLK 92, A 33, and B 34, and one output port—OUT 35.

The semiconductor column and each of the conductive columns have columnar axes which are parallel to one another. Each of the conductive columns is conductively coupled to either an input port or an output port of the semiconductor column so as to configure the columnar logic gate as a precharged NAND gate. The semiconductor column extends from a bottom surface of the columnar active region to a top surface. Each of the conductive columns extend to the top surface and/or the bottom surface of the columnar active region. The top and bottom routing layers can be used to provide interconnection between these conductive columns and those of other columnar logic gates so as to realize a logic operation for the three-dimensional logic circuit.

In FIGS. 6E and 6F, the top and bottom surfaces, respectively, of the columnar logic region for the precharged NAND gate depicted in FIGS. 6A and 6B are shown. In FIG. 6E, the top connections of CLK 32, Vdd 31 and A 33 are shown extending to the top surface of the columnar logic region. In FIG. 6F, the top connections of CLK 92, GND 36, B 34, and OUT 35 are shown extending to the bottom surface of the columnar logic region. The top and bottom interconnection layers can be used to route signals to and from these ports to port of other columnar logic gates. In some embodiments, all of the input and output ports are conducted to one or both of the top and bottom surfaces of the columnar logic region. In such an embodiment, only one of top and bottom interconnection layers can conductively interconnect the logic ports of a plurality of columnar logic gates. In some embodiments, a plurality of conductive columns, which are not conductively coupled to input or output ports of columnar logic gates can be interspersed amongst the columnar logic gates so as to provide conductive paths between the top and bottom interconnection layers.

In FIG. 6G, a view of the top surface of the columnar logic region of a two-dimensional array of columnar logic gates is depicted. The FIG. 6G view shows the various conductive columns that extend to the top surface of the columnar logic region. These conductive columns can then be interconnected via the top interconnection layer, thereby creating a logic operation for the three-dimensional logic circuit. The distance between each of the semiconductor columns and the conductive columns that are nearest thereto is less than the distance between each of the semiconductor columns and other semiconductor columns nearest thereto. Thus configuration depicts semiconductor columns and conductive columns that are interdigitated. Such a configuration permits lateral conductivity between the input and output ports of a semiconductor column with the adjacent conductive columns. Such lateral conductivity occurs between the top and bottom surfaces of the columnar logic region.

In some embodiments, the semiconductor column of each of the columnar logic gates can include devices of only one unipolar variety. For example, all transistors of the semiconductor columns can be N-type (or conversely P-type). In other embodiments, bipolar types of transistors can be included in each semiconductor column. In some embodiments, an metallization layer can be between the top and bottom surfaces of the columnar active region so as to conductively couple commonly biased nodes of the plurality of semiconductor columns. For example, a metallization layer can be used to provide biasing of VDD, VSS, or body biases of field-effect transistors (FETs). In some embodiments, every columnar logic gate is of the same variety. For example, every logic gate could be a two-input NAND gate (or, alternatively, a three-input NOR gate, for example). In other embodiments, each columnar logic gate can be independently formed as a specific type of logic gate, so as to more efficiently create the logic operation of the three-dimensional logic circuit.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a Unipolar Bootstrap NAND Gate Circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. Transistors (61, 62, 63 and 64) together represent a standard unipolar NAND gate. The problem with standard a unipolar NAND gate is that the output of the gate only goes to one threshold voltage (Vt) below the input voltage. After a few gates of propagation the signal will completely degrade. To solve this, transistor (65) and capacitor (72) are added to the circuit. Transistor (65) starts to turn on when node R (41) goes to the threshold voltage (Vt). Output (35) will not rise until transistor (65) has started to turn on. Therefore, output (35) will be one threshold voltage (Vt) below the voltage on R (41) when output (35) begins to rise. As Output (35) rises, the threshold voltage (Vt) will be manifested across capacitor (72). Therefore, capacitor (72) will cause the voltage on R (41) to ultimately rise to one Vt above the output. Transistor (66) isolates the pull down from R (41). Similarly, transistors (67, 68, 69, 70 and 71) and capacitor (73) implement the inverse operation to provide the AND Output (95).

FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B are cross section views of a Vertical Structure of a Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. Vertical logic gates as described in co-pending applications 62/252,522 filed, Nov. 8, 2015 and PCT/US2016/24173, filed Mar. 25, 2016, may be employed to fabricate the logic gates of the present invention. FIGS. 8A and 8B are cross-sectioned in quadrature planes (planes whose normal vectors are orthogonal to one another). Both FIGS. 8A and 8B section through an active column (e.g., a column of semiconductor material in which active devices can be fabricated). The semiconductor layers of transistors (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, and 71) and capacitor (72) of FIG. 7 are all fabricated in a single stack. The transistor channel lengths are determined by deposition and not by lithography. This allows very high density circuitry and very high speed. The manufacturing methodology for fabricating the structure shown in FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B is similar to methods employed by the NAND flash industry for making 3D NAND devices. The gates of the transistors may be of the surround gate type thereby allowing better performance. Transistors (67) and (68) are shown to have a common N-type layer in between the transistors; alternatively, one may separate the transistors and connect them with a metal interconnect. Transistors (61 and 64) are represented as one transistor stack with dual gate inputs for Ā (93) and B (94).

FIG. 8C is a top view of the Top Layer Connections of a Vertical Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 8D is a top view of the Bottom Layer Connections of a Vertical Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 8C and 8D depict the top and bottom views, respectively, of the vertical structure of a unipolar bootstrapped NAND gate depicted in FIGS. 8A-8B. Connections for gate routing may be made to the vertical gates either from above or below the structure. Other arrangements of connections may also be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. FIG. 8E is an illustration of one method of creating an array of Vertical Unipolar Bootstrapped NAND Gates with average cell sizes ranging from approximately 34 F² to 36 F² according to an embodiment of the present invention. Other orientations than shown in FIG. 8E may be designed including flipping a portion or all of the gates in the X, Y, or Z direction. This is a factor of about 3 times smaller compared to conventional planar CMOS logic. In addition to a large increase in density, the short interconnect between logic gates provides for much faster speed of operation.

FIGS. 9A-10 depict an embodiment of unipolar logic circuitry identical to the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 1A-2, except that the clocked pass gate is transposed in location so as to be in the pull-down network. For example, in FIG. 9A is identical to FIG. 1A, except that clocked pass gate 25 has been transposed, from its location depicted in FIG. 1A, where it connects output terminal 35 to a net shared by logic transistor 23 and clocking device 92, to its location depicted in FIG. 9A, where it connects logic transistor 23 to output terminal 35, which is also coupled to clocking device 92. In the FIG. 1A configuration clocked pass gate 25 is part of a conductive pull up path between Vdd and output terminal 35, and is part of the conductive pull down path between Vss and output terminal 35. The conducive pull up path between Vdd and output terminal 35 has another device—clocked pass gate 22—that performs substantially the same function as clocked pass gate 25. Therefore clocked pass gate 25 need only provide selective conduction in the pull down path between Vss and output terminal 35. In each of FIGS. 9B-10, clocked pass gate 25 has similarly been transposed from its location depicted in FIGS. 1B-10.

Operation of the logic families depicted in FIGS. 1A-10 embodiments can be described with reference to the NOR gate depicted in FIG. 1C. The NOR depicted in FIG. 1C has complementary first and second clock terminals 32 and 92, logic input terminals 33 and 34, logic output terminal 35, a logic network, a pre-charge network, and a logic clocking network. The logic network includes switching devices 23 and 24. The pre-charge network includes switching device 21 and charge-storage capacitor 26. The logic clocking network includes switching devices 22 and 25. Each of switching devices 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 are of the same unipolar type. For example, all of switching devices 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 could be N-type MOSFETS in one embodiment. In another embodiment, all of switching devices 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 could be P-type MOSFETS, for example.

The logic network in the FIG. 1C embodiment is configured to perform a NOR logic function. Switching devices 23 and 24 of the logic network have control terminals (e.g., gates) coupled to logic input terminals 33 and 34, respectively. The logic network is configured to modulate conductivity, based on logic input signals A and B received on logic input terminals 33 and 34, respectively, and on the NOR logic function that the logic network is configured to perform, between a first supply net (e.g., ground) and a pre-evaluation net, which connects logic network to the logic clocking network.

The pre-charge network is configured to provide an electrical charge to charge-storage capacitor 26 during a first phase of first and second clock signals CLK and CLK. Switching device 21 of the pre-charge network has a control terminal coupled to the clock input terminal 32. Switching device 21 is configured to modulate conductivity, based on clock signal CLK received on clock input terminal 32, between a second supply net (e.g., Vdd) and a first terminal (e.g., top plate) of charge-storage capacitor 26. For example, when clock signal CLK is of a voltage that causes conductivity of switching device 21 to be high, then the first terminal of charge-storage capacitor 26 will be charge to a voltage approximately equal to the voltage of the second supply net (e.g., Vdd). When clock signal CLK is of a voltage that causes conductivity of switching device 21 to be low (e.g., off), then little or no electrical conduction will occur between the second supply net and the first terminal of charge-storage capacitor 26.

The logic clocking network is configured to couple output terminal 35 to both the pre-charge net and to the first terminal of charge-storage capacitor 26. Each of switching devices 22 and 25 of the logic clocking network has a control terminal coupled to second clock input terminal 92. The logic clocking network is configured to modulate conductivity, based on second clock signal CLK received on second clock input terminal 92, between logic output terminal 35 and both the first terminal of charge-storage capacitor 26 and the pre-evaluation net.

If input logic signals A and B are of voltages that causes conductivity of either of switching devices 23 or 24 to be high, then charge-storage capacitor 26 will be discharged to first supply net (e.g., GND) via the logic network when clock signal CLK has a phase that causes conductivity of switching devices 22 and 25 to be high. In such a situation, the voltage provided to output logic terminal 35 will be substantially equal to the voltage of the first supply net (e.g., GND).

If, however, input logic signals A and B are of voltages that causes conductivity of either of switching devices 23 or 24 to be low, then charge-storage capacitor 26 will not be discharged to first supply net (e.g., GND) via the logic network when clock signal CLK has a phase that causes conductivity of switching devices 22 and 25 to be high. In such a situation, the voltage provided to output logic terminal 35 will be substantially equal to the voltage of the first supply net (e.g., GND). In such a situation, the voltage provided to output logic terminal 35 will be a voltage determined by the charge stored on charge-storage capacitor 26 conductively shared, via logic clocking network with any capacitances coupled to logic output net 35.

The clocking scheme describe with reference to FIG. 9C results in a NOR logic gate that has a resolving phase and a holding phase. For example, if the complementary first and second clock signals CLK and CLK have voltages that cause switching devices 22 and 25 of the logic clocking network to have relatively-high conductivities, then the NOR gate is in the resolving phase of operation. In the resolving phase of operation, any changes in the state of input logic signals A and B can cause a change in the logic output signal to appear on logic output terminal 35. If, however, the complementary first and second clock signals CLK and CLK have voltages that cause switching devices 22 and 25 of the logic clocking network to have relatively-low conductivities, then the NOR gate is in the holding phase of operation. In the holding phase of operation, any changes in the state of input logic signals A and B do not cause a change in the logic output signal to appear on logic output terminal 35.

The various other logic gates depicted in FIGS. 9A-9B and 9D-10 operate in similar fashion to the NOR gate described above with reference to FIG. 9C. In some embodiments, complementary clock signals CLK and CLK have first and second phases. Because clock signals CLK and CLK are complementary, during each of first and second phases, clock signals CLK and CLK are complementary. For example, clock signal CLK might have a relatively-high voltage during the first phase of complementary clock signals CLK and CLK, and a relatively-low voltage during the second phase of complementary clock signals CLK and CLK. Then, clock signal CLK might have a relatively-low voltage during the second phase of complementary clock signals CLK and CLK, and a relatively-high voltage during the second phase of complementary clock signals CLK and CLK.

The relatively-high voltage can be approximately equal to the voltage of the second supply net (e.g., Vdd). In some embodiments, the relatively-high voltage can exceed the voltage of the second supply net (e.g., >Vdd). A voltage that exceeds the supply can be generated, for example, by using a supply for a clocking network that is different from (e.g., greater than) the supply for the logic gates.

FIGS. S1-S4 represent simulations of Unipolar Clocked Logic gates (Inverter, Buffer and NAND gates), the results of which indicate that the circuits operate in low power as expected.

It should be noted that one skilled in the art will recognize that although embodiments of unipolar gates shown herein are drawn primarily with NMOS transistors, equivalently PMOS transistors may be employed. FIG. 1L, for example, is a PMOS-based Unipolar Clocked Inverter Gate Low Power Circuit Single Clock per Gate according to an embodiment of the present invention, as opposed to the NMOS-based inverter gate of FIG. 1G. Further, in addition to the unipolar NAND, NOR, Inverter and Buffer gates shown in the drawings herein, one skilled in the art would readily recognize that the invention applies also to other logic gates as needed.

Embodiments of the invention described herein may be applied to a variety of nonvolatile logic techniques; for example, a nonvolatile unipolar latched logic gate may employ a nonvolatile element such as the nonvolatile latch described in FIG. 15 of provisional application 62/252,522 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,681,535, (Agan et al.) both of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a unipolar logic gate configured to perform a NOR logic function. In FIG. 7, NOR gate 100 includes clock input terminal 110, logic input terminals 133 and 134, and logic output terminal 135. Clock input terminal 110 is configured to receive a clock signal Logic input terminals 133 and 134 are configured to receive one or more corresponding logic input signals of a binary logical nature. Logic output terminal 135 is configured to output a logic output signal of a binary logical nature. NOR gate 100 also includes logic network 102 that includes device 123 and device 124 of a unipolar type. Devices 123 and 124 are configured to perform the NOR logic function. Each of the devices 123 and 124 of logical network 102 has a control node (e.g., gate) coupled to a corresponding one of the logic input terminals 133 and 134. Logic network 102 is configured to modulate conductivity, based on the configured logic function (e.g., NOR) and the logic input signals received on logic input terminals 133 and 134, between first supply 136 (e.g., GND) and pre-evaluation net 104.

NOR gate 100 includes logic clocking device 114 of the unipolar type having an input node (e.g., source/drain) coupled to pre-evaluation net 104, a control node (e.g., gate) conductively coupled to clock input terminal 110, and an output node (e.g., source/drain) coupled to logic output terminal 135. Logic clocking device 114 is configured to modulate conductivity, based on the received clock signal on clock input terminal 110, between pre-evaluation net 104 and logic output terminal 135.

The NOR gate includes logic-complement clocking device 113 of the unipolar type having an input node (e.g., source/drain) coupled to second supply 131 (e.g., VDD), a control node (e.g., gate) capacitively coupled, via capacitor 111, to clock input terminal 110 and conductively coupled to pre-evaluation net 104, and an output node (e.g., source/drain) coupled to logic output terminal 135, logic-complement clocking device 113 configured to modulate conductivity, based on the received clock signal on clock input terminal 10, between second supply 131 and logic output terminal 135.

In the depicted embodiment, the pre-evaluation net can be charged to a voltage substantially above first supply 136 when the clock signal received on clock input terminal 110 transitions from low to high and the conductivity of the logic network is low. If, however, the conductivity of the logic network is high or the clock signal received on clock input terminal 110 transitions from high to low, the voltage of the pre-evaluation net will be not significantly above first supply 136. If the unipolar type of the depicted devices 113, 114, 123 and 124 is N-type, pre-evaluation net must have a voltage significantly above first supply 136 for logic-complement clocking device 113 to turn on and to provide a high conductivity path between second supply 131 and logic output terminal 135.

FIGS. 8A-8B are graphs depicting clock, logic inputs, logic outputs, and current drawn by an exemplary Unipolar Latched Logic Circuit. In FIG. 8A, graph 54 includes horizontal axis 55 and vertical axes 56, 58, and 60. Horizontal axis 56 is indicative of time. Vertical axes 56, 58, and 60 are indicative of clock voltage, input logic voltage, and output voltage, respectively. Clock signal/time relation 57 depicts a periodic clock signal that is at 3.0 volts during first phase 57 a and at 0.0 volts during second phase 57 b. First phase 57 a can be called an evaluation phase, and second phase 57 b can be called a hold phase.

Input logic signal/time relation 59 depicts a logic signal that varies between 0.0 volts and 3.0 volts as a function of time. Input logic signal/time relation 59 is constant during the evaluation phase 57 a and changing at time τ_(su) before clock signal/time relation 57 transitions to hold phase 57 b. When the clock signal depicted in clock signal/timing relation 57 transitions from hold phase 57 b to evaluation phase 57 a, the output logic signal as depicted in output logic signal/time relation 61 to a logic state indicative of a logic function corresponding to a configuration of unipolar devices and the input logic signal as depicted in input logic function/time relation 59. When the clock signal depicted in clock signal/timing relation transitions from evaluation phase 57 a to hold phase 57 b, the output logic signal is held at the previously determined output logic level, independent of the voltage of the input logic signal as indicated in input logic signal/time relation 59.

In FIG. 8B, graph 62 includes horizontal axis 55 and vertical axes 56, 63, and 60. As depicted in FIG. 7A, horizontal axis 55 is again indicative of time. Vertical axes 56, 63, and 60 are indicative of clock voltage, current, and output voltage, respectively. Clock signal/time relation 57 and output logic signal/time relation 61 depicted in FIG. 7A are reproduced in FIG. 7B to provide a reference to the supply current signal/time relation 64 and clock current/time relation 65. Both supply current signal/time relation 64 and clock current/time relation 65 are modest, because the timing of the various unipolar devices of the unipolar latched logic gate (e.g., as depicted in FIG. 1A) is such that no crowbar current paths are formed.

In some embodiments, evaluation phase 57 a of clock signal/time relation 57 can have a voltage level that exceeds a supply voltage. Such a clock-signal/time relation can provide increased conductivity of logic-complement clocking device 113 (depicted in FIG. 7). This can ensure that the output signal on logic output terminal 135 is with a predetermined logic level specification, for example. Various capacitive techniques can provide such a clock signal/time relation 57 that exceeds a supply voltage.

The unipolar logic circuitry and vertical structures shown herein may be utilized with thin film transistors (TFTs) on insulative substrates such as glass or plastic. Alternatively, the unipolar logic circuitry may be utilized on a variety of semiconductor substrates which may be made of any appropriate semiconductor materials, such as silicon, polysilicon, germanium on insulator (GOI), silicon germanium, carborundum, indium antimonite, indium nitride, lead telluride, indium arsenide, indium phosphide, gallium arsenide, indium gallium arsenide, gallium antimonite, gallium nitride, alloy semiconductor, or a combination thereof. In yet another embodiment, unipolar logic circuitry may be fabricated with TFTs either in 2D planar or 3D vertical structures above unipolar logic circuitry embedded in a semiconductor substrate. This enables hybrid structures with ultra-high performance, density and speed. For example, InAs exhibits high electron mobility of 30,000-40,000 cm²/Vs, and is a promising candidate along with other compound semiconductors for the semiconductor technology to replace silicon. However, vertical logic gates fabricated with compound semiconductors may not be feasible as it is with TFTs which can be fabricated at low process temperatures (<400 C). Hence, to maximize overall speed, density, power and cost, a hybrid device may be fabricated for example utilizing unipolar logic circuitry on an InAs substrate with additional unipolar logic circuitry comprised of TFT-based vertical logic gates fabricated above the core InAs logic circuitry.

In the description herein, reference is made to the accompanying set of drawings that form a part hereof and in which are shown by way of illustration several specific embodiments. It is to be understood that other embodiments are contemplated and may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the present disclosure. The following detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense.

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing feature sizes, amounts, and physical properties used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about.” Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the foregoing specification are approximations that can vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by those skilled in the art utilizing the teachings disclosed herein.

The recitation of numerical ranges by endpoints includes all numbers subsumed within that range (e.g. 1 to 5 includes 1, 1.5, 2, 2.75, 3, 3.80, 4, and 5) and any range within that range.

As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” encompass embodiments having plural referents, unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the term “or” is generally employed in its sense including “and/or” unless the content clearly dictates otherwise.

Spatially related terms, including but not limited to, “lower”, “upper”, “beneath”, “below”, “above”, and “on top”, if used herein, are utilized for ease of description to describe spatial relationships of an element(s) to another. Such spatially related terms encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the particular orientations depicted in the figures and described herein. For example, if a cell depicted in the figures is turned over or flipped over, portions previously described as below or beneath other elements would then be above those other elements.

As used herein, when an element, component or layer for example is described as being “on” “connected to”, “coupled with” or “in contact with” another element, component or layer, it can be directly on, directly connected to, directly coupled with, in direct contact with, or intervening elements, components or layers may be on, connected, coupled or in contact with the particular element, component or layer, for example. When an element, component or layer for example is referred to as begin “directly on”, “directly connected to”, “directly coupled with”, or “directly in contact with” another element, there are no intervening elements, components or layers for example.

As used herein the terms “source” and “drain” refer to the two terminals of a transistor and one skilled in the art understands that depending on the operation of the transistor, the terms “source” and “drain” are interchangeable. As used herein the terms “anode” and “cathode” refer to the two plates of a capacitor and one skilled in the art understands that depending on the operation of the capacitor, the terms “anode” and “cathode” are interchangeable. These interchangeable terms are not intended to impose limitations on the claimed invention herein.

The drawings herein show columnar logic gate structure relative to the plane of a substrate which may be silicon, glass or other material. Structures are drawn in the “X”, “Y”, and “Z” axis direction. The “Z” direction is perpendicular to the plane of the substrate. “X” and “Y” directions are 90 degrees relative to each other and are along the same plane of the substrate. “X” and “Y” may be interchanged and not intended to impose limitations on the structures described herein.

The present discloser is related to monolithic 3D integrated circuits comprised of columnar logic gates (CLGs) constructed in a vertical fashion and comprising a semiconductor column and conductive columns which may be equidistant from the semiconductor column for routing the inputs and outputs whereby the inputs and outputs are accessible for connection from either above or below the columnar logic gate or both. The pin connections at interconnection layers above or below the columnar logic gate may be minimally spaced from the semiconductor column and from pins of adjacent columnar logic gates at a distance of 1 F thereby enabling much higher density circuitry compared to conventional planar circuit designs and related routing. Pins at the interconnection layers are only for input (e.g., A, B, Clock, Vdd, Gnd, Vp, Vn) and output signals. Intragate routing and transistor gate contacts are all positioned within the vertical (z-axis) distance of the semiconductor column and not at an interconnection layer. Employing TFTs enables low cost manufacturing and high density circuits by enabling multiple stacks of columnar logic gates and interconnection layers.

The columnar logic gates are preferably constructed with a core vertical stack of source, body and drain layers—or semiconductor column. Such a construction is analogous to the methods employed in fabrication of 3D NAND flash devices which allows for low cost manufacturing through reduction in masks and processing steps. The fabrication of the transistors via sequential deposition of source, body, and drain layers allows for very thin (short) transistor channel lengths without the need for lithography equipment capable of such channel lengths. For example, a semiconductor fab may be used to construct columnar logic gates which have transistor channel lengths of 10 nm or even less regardless of the minimum feature size of the lithography equipment employed at the facility which could be greater than 100 nm.

The semiconductor column is preferably made with thin film transistors (TFTs) which may be fabricated at back end of line (BEOL) temperatures of less than 450 F, thereby allowing for low cost manufacturing and high density by enabling multiple stacks of CLGs and interconnection layers.

The high density CLGs described herein enable circuit devices with high density, low power and high speed due to drastically reduced interconnect distances which may be fabricated at reduced costs compared to current methods employed in the semiconductor field.

FIG. 15A and FIG. 15B are a cross-sectional views of a columnar logic gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. A columnar logic gate includes a semiconductor column (110) which is comprised of the source, drain, and body of each of the transistors in the gate, vertically aligned. The column may include other conductive and insulative layers; the conductive layers in the semiconductor column may be connections to ground (Vss) or power (Vdd) or intragate connections connecting a source or drain of one transistor to the source or drain of another transistor. The columnar logic gate also includes two or more conductive columns (121, 122 and 123) adjacent to the semiconductor column coupling the inputs and outputs of the logic gate to an interconnection layer above (128) or below (129) the semiconductor column (110) or both; wherein the intragate routing and transistor gate contacts (127) of the logic gate are positioned within the vertical distance of the semiconductor column (110) and not at an interconnection layer. The term “vertical distance of the semiconductor column” in this specification refers to the region between the top of the logic gate and bottom of the logic gate (or in the case of stacked logic gates, the region between the top of the top logic gate and the bottom of the bottom logic gate) and specifically excludes the region at an interconnection layer. The term “interconnection layer” in this specification refers to what are commonly referred to in the semiconductor industry as routing layers which serve the purpose of connecting input and output pins of one logic gate to another. One interconnection layer may be comprised of several routing layers as allowed by the manufacturing process.

FIG. 15C is a top plan view of a columnar logic gate representing one of the key aspects of the invention described herein—minimally spaced input and output pins (119) at a pitch distance of 2 F between each other or from the semiconductor column (110) or pins of an adjacent columnar logic gate or spaced at a distance of 1 F from each other or from the semiconductor column (110) or pins of an adjacent columnar logic gate. The pins are formed at an interconnection layer either above (128) or below (129) the semiconductor column (110).

FIG. 15D is a cross-sectional view of a columnar logic gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. This modified structure from that shown in FIG. 15B routes common electrodes (126) along the X-axis in a common lane area (140) in multiple layers (in the vertical z-axis) of routing electrodes. These common electrodes (126) are common to other columnar logic gates in an array and therefore are more efficiently routed in this manner whereby interconnection at an interconnection layer is done at the edge of array (not shown)—one connection per common electrode (126) for multiple columnar logic gates. Common electrodes (126) include power (Vdd), Ground (Vss), body-bias voltages (Vp, Vn), and clock signals.

FIG. 15E is a top plan view of a columnar logic gate that has implemented the configuration shown in FIG. 15D whereby the common electrodes (126) are routed in the X-axis direction to the edge of an array of columnar logic gates (not shown). Routing of the common input electrodes (GND/Vss 131, Vdd 130, Vp 134, Vn 135, CLK 133) is efficiently done in a common lane area (140) in multiple layers (in vertical z-axis) of routing electrodes between the top and bottom of the gate and are routed to the edge of an array of gates (not shown) for connection at interconnection layers above (128) or below (129) the semiconductor column (110) of the CLG.

FIGS. 15A, 15B, 15C, 15D and 15E describe a columnar logic gate comprising a semiconductor column comprising: one or more transistors each having a drain, body, and source, vertically aligned; two or more conductive columns adjacent to the semiconductor column coupling the inputs and outputs of the logic gate to an interconnection layer above or below the semiconductor column or both; wherein the transistor gate contacts of the logic gate are positioned within the vertical distance of the semiconductor column and not at an interconnection layer.

The insulator thickness for the gate of each transistor in the semiconductor column (110) may be less than 1 F in thickness due to its placement via a deposition process such as atomic layer deposition (ALD).

Further details are described in the embodiments described below. Embodiments described herein include 2-input NAND and NOR gates with a single output. However, the invention described herein is not limited to any particular gate or number of inputs or outputs.

One skilled in the art would recognize that a host of columnar logic gates may be fabricated under the principle described herein, comprising of a semiconductor column (110) and conductive columns which route the inputs and outputs of the gate to interconnection layers either above or below the gate or both, whereby the pin connections—as viewed from above or below—are minimally spaced at a pitch distance of 2 F between each other or from the semiconductor column (110) or pins of an adjacent columnar logic gate or spaced at a distance of 1 F from each other or from the semiconductor column (110) or pins of an adjacent columnar logic gate.

The term minimum feature size (F) used within this specification is to be defined as the minimum feature size which is determined by lithography means or by layout design rule limitations (provided by the foundry) and not by deposition means.

The CLG structures described herein provide for efficient inter-gate routing at interconnection layers above (128) or below (129) the CLGs. A key aspect of the invention is that all intra-gate routing of the CLG and transistor gate contacts are positioned between the interconnection layers (128 and 129) or within the vertical distance of the semiconductor column (110); that is, there are no pin connections at an interconnection layer for transistor gate contacts or for routing within a gate—such as connecting of a drain of one transistor to the source of another transistor.

First Embodiment of CLG (Columnar NAND or NOR Gate)

FIG. 16A and FIG. 16B are cross-sectional views of a columnar NAND gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. The columnar NAND gate is comprising: a semiconductor column (110) comprising a first NMOS transistor (111) having a drain, body, and source vertically aligned; a second NMOS transistor (112) having a drain, body, and source vertically aligned with and directly above the drain, body, and source of the first NMOS transistor (111), the source of the second NMOS transistor (112) and the drain of the first NMOS transistor (111) comprising a unified semiconductor region (114); a pullup transistor (113) having a drain, body, and source vertically aligned with and directly above the drains, bodies, and sources of the first (111) and second (112) transistors, the source or drain of the pullup transistor (113) conductively coupled to the drain of the second NMOS transistor (112) thereby forming an output node (138) of the columnar NAND gate; an interconnection layer either above (128) or below (129) the semiconductor column or both; a first conductive column (121) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupled to the gate of the first NMOS transistor (111) and the gate of the pullup transistor (113), which vertically extends adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) to an interconnection layer (128 or 129); a second conductive column (122) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupled to the gate of the second NMOS transistor (112) and the gate of the pullup transistor (113), which vertically extends adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) to an interconnection layer (128 or 129); and a third conductive column (123) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupling an interconnection layer (128 or 129), which is located either above the pullup transistor (113) or below the first NMOS transistor (111), to the source or drain of the pullup transistor (113) and to the drain of the second NMOS transistor (112) thereby forming an output node (138) of the columnar NAND gate, wherein the pins for the inputs (136 and 137) and output (138) at an interconnection layer (128 or 129) may be minimally spaced at a pitch distance of 2 F (120) as illustrated in FIG. 17 and FIG. 18.

FIG. 16C and FIG. 16D are cross-sectional views of a columnar NOR gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. The columnar NOR gate is comprising: a semiconductor column (110) comprising a first PMOS transistor (116) having a drain, body, and source vertically aligned; a second PMOS transistor (117) having a drain, body, and source vertically aligned with and directly below the drain, body, and source of the first PMOS transistor (116), the source of the second PMOS transistor (117) and the drain of the first PMOS transistor (116) comprising a unified semiconductor region (114); a pulldown transistor (118) having a drain, body, and source vertically aligned with and directly below the drains, bodies, and sources of the first (116) and second (117) transistors, the source or drain of the pulldown transistor (118) conductively coupled to the drain of the second PMOS transistor (117) thereby forming an output node (138) of the columnar NOR gate; an interconnection layer either above (128) or below (129) the semiconductor column (110) or both; a first conductive column (121) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupled to the gate of the first PMOS transistor (116) and the gate of the pulldown transistor (118), which vertically extends adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) to an interconnection layer (128 or 129); a second conductive column (122) adjacent to the semiconductor column and conductively coupled to the gate of the second PMOS transistor (117) and the gate of the pulldown transistor (118), which vertically extends adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) to an interconnection layer (128 or 129) and a third conductive column (123) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupling an interconnection layer (128 or 129), which is located either below the pulldown transistor (118) or above the first PMOS transistor (116), to the source or drain of the pulldown transistor (118) and to the drain of the second PMOS transistor (117) thereby forming an output node (138) of the columnar NOR gate, wherein the pins for the inputs (136 and 137) and output (138) at an interconnection layer (128 or 129) may be minimally spaced from the semiconductor column (110) at a pitch distance of 2 F (120) as illustrated in the top plan view of the routing pins for a columnar NAND or NOR gate shown in FIG. 17 and the top plan view of an array of columnar NAND or NOR logic gates shown FIG. 18. A first CLG (151) is shown in FIG. 18 perpendicular and adjacent to a second CLG (152). This orientation of the CLGs enables the minimal spacing of all pins to be at a 2 F pitch, whether they are pins on adjacent CLGs (151 and 152) at a 2 F pitch distance (150) between pins or an input pin on a CLG (151) at a 2 F pitch distance (120) from the semiconductor column (110) or Vdd and Gnd pins. A total of 16 CLGs are shown in the array with an average gate area of 16 F² representing a significant reduction in gate area compared to conventional planar gate layouts. The minimal spacing of connection pins at the interconnection layer (128 or 129) is enabled by the routing of the first (121), second (122) and third (123) conductive columns which are minimally spaced equidistant from the core semiconductor column (110) which may be at a pitch distance of 2 F or at a minimum distance of 1 F from the semiconductor column (110). With this design and variations thereof, the output conductive column of a columnar logic gate is adjacent to one or more input conductive columns of other columnar logic gates in the array of columnar logic gates.

Second Embodiment of CLG (Stacked Columnar NAND or NOR Gates)

FIG. 19A and FIG. 19B are cross-sectional views of stacked columnar NAND logic gates with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention. The number of gates stacked is shown to be four but may be less or more. The number of columnar logic gates stacked refers to the number of columnar logic gates between an upper/top interconnection layer (above the highest columnar logic gate in the stack) and a lower/bottom interconnection layer (below the lowest columnar logic gate in the stack). In FIG. 19A and FIG. 19B a first columnar logic gate (CLG) (141) is shown with a second CLG (142) above the first CLG (141); a third CLG (143) is above the second CLG (142); finally a fourth CLG (144) is above the third CLG (143). A lower/bottom interconnection layer (not shown) resides below the first CLG (141) and an upper/top interconnection layer (not shown) resides above the fourth CLG (144). The semiconductor column (110) comprises the sources, bodies, and drains of all of the transistors, vertically aligned, of each of the logic gates in the stack. The semiconductor column (110) may be comprised of thin film transistors (TFTs) in which the source and drains may be metal conductors. Such a structure allows for low cost of fabrication due to the reduced processing steps and reduced materials required for fabrication of unified metal regions (115). Each of the four CLGs (141, 142, 143, 144) are comprised of first (121), second (122) and third (123) conductive columns as described in the first embodiment above. The orientation of alternating CLGs may be arranged such that 1) a unified Vdd region (124) in the semiconductor column (110) is shared for two CLGs, such as for the first CLG (141) and the second CLG (142), 2) another unified Vdd region (124) in the semiconductor column (110) is shared for CLG (143) and CLG (144) and 3) a unified Gnd region (125) in the semiconductor column (110) is shared for CLG (141) and CLG (142). All the common electrodes including Vdd (124), Gnd (125 and 131), Vp (134), and Vn (135) are routed in the X-axis direction in routing lanes (140) parallel to each other in the Z-axis, as shown in FIG. 20. The routing lanes (140) may be shared by two adjacent columnar logic gates enabling high density layout of the gates (see FIG. 21B). The contact interface region (139) of each body bias and semiconductor channel material may be a direct contact of the body bias electrode (134 or 135) with the semiconductor channel material or there may be an insulator layer between the body bias electrode (134 or 135) and the semiconductor channel material. The output node (138) of a CLG may optionally be routed in the X-direction and in particular, for the second CLG (142) and third CLG (143), the output node (138) may be preferably routed in the X-direction along the routing lanes of the common electrodes (140) and Y-direction to the edge of an array of CLGs for connection to an interconnect layer above or below the array of gates via a conductive column (147)—see FIG. 21B. Similarly, A (136) and B (137) inputs for the second CLG (142) and third CLG (143) may be routed in the X and Y direction to a conductive column (119) which routes to pins either above or below the stacked columnar logic gates. FIG. 21A is a top plan view of the routing pins of the stacked columnar NAND or NOR gates with body bias. This top plan view shows the pin connections for the interconnection layers above (128) and below (129) the stack of columnar logic gates. At each of the two interconnection layers there are four pins (136, 137, and 119) for the inputs, for a total of 8 pins, representing the A and B inputs for the four stacked columnar logic gates. FIG. 21B shows an array of 20 stacked columnar NAND or NOR gates with body bias. The area measures about 728 F² (28 F×26 F). In the example show, four (4) CLGs are stacked between an upper and lower interconnection layer. The average area of each stack of 4 gates is about 35 F²; the average per gate is about 8.75 F² representing a significant reduction in gate area compared to conventional planar gate layouts. To further illustrate the optimized layout of the CLGs in FIG. 21B for density, it is evident that all of the pins in the columnar logic array (148) are routed to an interconnection layer above or below the columnar logic array (148) and are minimally spaced from the semiconductor column or other pins at a pitch distance of 2 F. The minimal spacing of connection pins at the interconnection layer (128 or 129) is enabled by the routing of the first (121), second (122) and third (123) conductive columns which are minimally spaced equidistant from the core semiconductor column (110) which may be at a pitch distance of 2 F or at a minimum distance of 1 F from the semiconductor column (110). The CLG array (148) consists of an array of 4×2 multiple stacked CLGs (4 stack) for a total of 32 CLGs. The area of the CLG array (148) measures 280 F² which is an effective 8.75 F² per CLG. There are a total of 8 conductive columns (147), 4 each on opposite edges of the CLG array (148) in the X-direction. These columns may be used for routing the outputs of the second (142) and third (143) CLG of the respective CLG stacks. Eight (8) outputs would be routed to an interconnection layer above the CLG array (147) and eight (8) outputs would be routed to an interconnection layer below the CLG array (147). All intra-gate routing of the stacked CLGs and transistor gate contacts are positioned between the interconnection layers (128 and 129) or within the vertical distance of the semiconductor column (110); that is, there are no pin connections at an interconnection layer for transistor gate contacts or for intra-gate routing such as connecting of a drain of one transistor to the source of another transistor. FIGS. 19A, 19B, 20, 21A and 21B describe a stacked columnar logic gate comprising a semiconductor column comprising: one or more transistors each having a drain, body, and source, vertically aligned; two or more conductive columns adjacent to the semiconductor column coupling the inputs and outputs of the logic gate to an interconnection layer above or below the semiconductor column or both; wherein the transistor gate contacts of the logic gate are positioned within the vertical distance of the semiconductor column and not at an interconnection layer.

Third Embodiment of CLG (Columnar NAND or NOR Gate)

FIG. 22A and FIG. 22B are cross-sectional views of a columnar NAND gate with body bias according to an embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment differs from the first and second embodiments whereby the fabrication of the conductive columns (121 and 122) employ techniques used in the columnar NAND flash memory industry to allow for less than 1 F feature sizes in conductive electrodes through use of conformal deposition processes such as atomic layer deposition (ALD). This arrangement allows for an average area of 16 F² for an array of columnar NAND or NOR gates with body bias connections as shown in FIG. 23 and FIG. 24.

Fourth Embodiment of CLG (Columnar NAND Gate)

FIG. 25A and FIG. 25B are cross-sectional views of a columnar NAND gate according to an embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment differs from the first and second embodiments whereby rather than one pullup transistor (113) having gate inputs from opposite sides of the same semiconductor channel material, there are two separate pullup transistors (113-1 and 113-2). In the case where Vdd (130) and Gnd (131) are respectively connected at an interconnection layer above (128) and below (129) the semiconductor column (110), and no body bias is implemented, the average gate area in an array of columnar NAND gates necessarily increases in size to 22 F² as shown in FIG. 26A and FIG. 26B from 16 F² in the first embodiment due to the fact that Vdd (130) must be connected for both pullup transistors (113-1 and 113-2) which occupies additional space.

Fifth Embodiment of CLG (Columnar Unipolar Latched NOR Gate—N-Type)

FIG. 27A is a schematic diagram of a unipolar latched NOR gate (N-type), the operation of which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 10,079,602 (Agan et. al) Unipolar Latched Logic Circuits. FIG. 27B and FIG. 27C are cross-sectional views of a columnar unipolar latched NOR gate (N-type) according to an embodiment of the present invention comprising: a semiconductor column (110) comprising: a first NMOS transistor (163) having a drain, body, and source vertically aligned; a capacitor (161) having an anode and cathode vertically aligned with and directly below the drain, body and source of the first NMOS transistor (163), with an insulator immediately above and below the capacitor (161); a second NMOS transistor (164) having a drain, body, and source vertically aligned with and directly below the capacitor (161); a pulldown transistor (165) having a drain, body, and source vertically aligned with and directly below the drains, bodies, and sources of the first (163) and second (164) transistors, the source or drain of the pulldown transistor (165) conductively coupled to the drain of the second NMOS transistor (164); an interconnection layer either above (128) or below (129) the semiconductor column (110) or both; a first conductive column (121) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupled to a first gate of the pulldown transistor (165), which vertically extends adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) to an interconnection layer (129) which is located below the semiconductor column (110); a second conductive column (122) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupled to a second gate of the pulldown transistor (165), which vertically extends adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) to an interconnection layer (129) which is located below the semiconductor column (110); a third conductive column (123) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupling an interconnection layer (128), which is located above the semiconductor column (110), to the drain of the first NMOS transistor (163) and to the source of the second NMOS transistor (164) thereby forming an output node (138) of the columnar unipolar latched NOR gate; a fourth conductive column (154) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupling an interconnection layer (128), which is located above the semiconductor column (110), to the anode of the capacitor (161) and to the gate of the second NMOS transistor (164) thereby forming a clock input node (133) of the columnar unipolar latched NOR gate; and a fifth conductive column (168) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupling the source or drain of the pulldown transistor (165), the drain of the second NMOS transistor (164), the cathode of the capacitor (161) and the gate of the first NMOS transistor (163); wherein the first, second, third, fourth and fifth conductive columns (121, 122, 123, 154, and 168) are equidistant from the semiconductor column (110).

Sixth Embodiment of CLG (Columnar Unipolar Latched NOR Gate—P-Type)

FIG. 27E is a schematic diagram of a unipolar latched NOR gate (P-type), the operation of which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 10,079,602 (Agan et. al) Unipolar Latched Logic Circuits. FIG. 27F and FIG. 27G are cross-sectional views of a columnar unipolar latched NOR gate (P-type) according to an embodiment of the present invention comprising: a semiconductor column (110) comprising: a first PMOS transistor (173) having a drain, body, and source vertically aligned; a second PMOS transistor (174) having a drain, body, and source vertically aligned with and directly above the drain, body and source of the first PMOS transistor (173), the source or drain of the first PMOS transistor (173) conductively coupled to the drain of the second PMOS transistor (174); a capacitor (161) having an anode and cathode vertically aligned with and directly above the drain, body and source of the second PMOS transistor (174), an insulator immediately above the anode and the cathode conductively coupled to the source of the second PMOS transistor (174); a pullup transistor (175) having a drain, body, and source vertically aligned with and directly above the capacitor (161); an interconnection layer either above (128) or below (129) the semiconductor column (110) or both; a first conductive column (121) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupled to a first gate of the pullup transistor (175), which vertically extends adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) to an interconnection layer (128) which is located above the semiconductor column (110); a second conductive column (122) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupled to a second gate of the pullup transistor (175), which vertically extends adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) to an interconnection layer (128) which is located above the semiconductor column (110); a third conductive column (123) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupling an interconnection layer (129), which is located below the semiconductor column (110), to the drain of the second PMOS transistor (174) and to the source of the first PMOS transistor (173) thereby forming an output node (138) of the columnar unipolar latched NOR gate; a fourth conductive column (154) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupling an interconnection layer (129), which is located below the semiconductor column (110), to the anode of the capacitor (161) and to the gate of the second PMOS transistor (174) thereby forming a clock input node (133) of the columnar unipolar latched NOR gate; and a fifth conductive column (168) adjacent to the semiconductor column (110) and conductively coupling the source or drain of the pullup transistor (175), the source of the second PMOS transistor (174), the cathode of the capacitor (161) and the gate of the first PMOS transistor (173); wherein the first, second, third, fourth and fifth conductive columns (121, 122, 123, 154 and 168) are equidistant from the semiconductor column (110).

FIG. 27D, FIG. 27H, and FIG. 28 illustrate than array of columnar unipolar latched NOR gates of N-type or P-type may be arranged with a density approximating 17 F² in average cell size.

FIG. 29A through FIG. 29F illustrates that by adding the common body bias electrode Vp (134) for the columnar unipolar latched NOR gate (N-type), an average cell cell of 33 F² may be obtained. The similar case would be true for a P-type columnar unipolar latched NOR gate with body bias Vn added.

As noted in the drawings of the embodiments described above, the output conductive column of a columnar logic gate is adjacent to one or more input conductive columns of other columnar logic gates in the array of columnar logic gates. This provides for the highest density possible of configuring an array of logic gates in order to minimize the conductive routing paths between logic gates, and thereby provide for lower power, higher speed circuits.

One skilled in the art will recognize that a host of other logic gates may be designed employing the teachings of the inventions herein as well as those disclosed in the related applications and hence, the inventions shall not be limited to apply only to NAND and NOR gates and not limited to CMOS or Unipolar designs.

Seventh Embodiment of CLG (Multiple Levels of CLGs or S-CLGs and Interconnection Layers)

FIG. 30 is a schematic diagram of a 3D integrated circuit comprising multiple (2 or more) N−1 levels of columnar logic gates (CLGs) (181) or stacked columnar logic gates (S-CLGs) (181) and N levels (or N−1 levels) of interconnection layers (180), each columnar logic gate or stacked columnar logic gate comprising a semiconductor column comprising: one or more transistors each having a drain, body, and source, vertically aligned; two or more conductive columns adjacent to the semiconductor column coupling the inputs and outputs of the logic gate to an interconnection layer above or below the semiconductor column or both; wherein the transistor gate contacts of the logic gate are positioned within the vertical distance of the semiconductor column and not at an interconnection layer. The 3D circuit is preferably fabricated with thin film transistors processed at BEOL temperatures less than 450 C.

Semiconductor Materials

The columnar logic gates disclosed herein may be fabricated with existing crystalline silicon but may preferably be fabricated with thin film transistors (TFTs). All TFT technologies existing today or that may be developed in the future apply to this invention including but not limited to a-Si, poly-Si, LTPS—low temperature poly-silicon, CGSI, amorphous oxide semiconductors and doped amorphous oxide semiconductors (IGZO, ITZO, SnO, ZnON, LnIZO, vanadium-doped ZTO, and others), graphene-based TFTs, carbon nanotube (CNT) based TFTs, and all those stated in the prior art references and in U.S. Pat. No. 9,853,053 which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. In essence, any thin film transistor technology—which is not electrically coupled to the substrate body shall be included in the definition of thin film transistors for the purpose of this invention, regardless of processing temperature, albeit the preference is less than 450 C. These semiconductor materials may be used for the TFTs as well as the semiconductor channel in the memory cells. Substrates for use in the invention disclosed herein may be rigid or flexible, glass or plastic or any other substrate suitable for fabrication of integrated circuits. Some novel promising TFTs in development include the following:

-   -   1) “black phosphorus” reported by several universities including         McGill University, Montreal, Canada, Université de Montréal,         Montreal, Canada, Fudan University, Shanghai, Canada, and         University of Science and Technology, Hefei, China; for example         as reported in: Black Phosphorus Flexible Thin Film Transistors         at GHz Frequencies, Weinan Zhu, Saungeun Park, et. al., March         2016, Nano Letters 16(4), DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b04768 and         Phosphorus oxide gate dielectric for black phosphorus field         effect transistors, W. Dickerson, V. Tayari, et. al., Appl.         Phys. Lett. 112, 173101 (April 2018);         https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5011424.     -   2) Zinc oxynitride (ZnON) TFTs such as reported by BOE (China),         Samsung (Korea) and others in the following prior art papers:         High Mobility Zinc Oxynitride TFT for AMOLED, Meili Wang, Li         Zhang, Dongfang Wang, Liangchen Yan, Guangcai Yuan, Gang Wang,         SID 2014 Symposium Digest of Technical Papers, Vol. 45, Issue 1,         pages 949-951, June 2014, ISSN 0097-966/14/4503-0949, DOI:         10.1002/j.2168-0159.2014.tb00246.x, The Development of High         Mobility Zinc Oxynitride TFT for AMOLED, Liangchen Yan, Meili         Wang, Li Zhang, Dongfang Wang, Fengjuan Liu, Guangcai Yuan, Gang         Wang, SID 2015 Symposium Digest of Technical Papers, Vol. 46,         Issue 1, pages 769-771, June 2015, ISSN 0097-966X/15/4502-0769,         DOI: 10.1002/sdtp.10213, Development of High Mobility Zinc         Oxynitride Thin Film Transistors, Yan Ye, Rodney Lim, Harvey         You, Evelyn Scheer, Anshu Gaur, Hao-chien Hsu, Jian Liu, Dong         Kil Yim, Aki Hosokawa, John M. White, SID 2013 Symposium Digest         of Technical Papers, Vol. 44, Issue 1, pages 14-17, June 2013,         ISSN 0097-966X/13/4401-0014, DOI:         10.1002/j.2168-0159.2013.tb06127.x, and High Performance         Nanocrystalline ZnOxNy for Imaging and Display Applications,         Eunha Lee, Taeho Shin, Anass Benayad, HyungIk Lee, Dong-Su Ko,         HeeGoo Kim, Sanghun Jeon, and Gyeong-Su Park, SID 2015 Symposium         Digest of Technical Papers, Vol. 46, Issue 1, pages 681-684,         June 2015, ISSN 0097-966X/15/4502-0681, DOI: 10.1002/sdtp.10263,     -   3) Zinc Tin Oxide (ZTO) TFT and Indium Tin Zinc Oxide (ITZO)         TFT, such as described in the following prior art papers:         Fabrication of Zinc Tin Oxide TFTs by Self-Aligned Imprint         Lithography (SAIL) on Flexible Substrates, Warren Jackson, Carl         Taussig, Rich Elder, William M. Tong, Randy Hoffman, Tim Emery,         Dan Smith, Tim Koch, SID 2009 Symposium Digest of Technical         Papers, ISSN/009-0966X/09/3902-0873, DOI: 10.1889/1.3256934 and         High Mobility ITZO BCE Type TFTs for AMOLED Applications,         Fengjuan Liu, Dongfang Wang, Longbao Xin, Liangchen Yan, Meili         Wang, Guangcai Yuan, and Gang Wang, SID 2015 Symposium Digest of         Technical Papers, Vol. 46, Issue 1, pages 1180-1183, June 2015,         ISSN 0097-966X/15/4503-1180, DOI: 10.1002/sdtp.10048,         Nanocrystalline ZnON; High mobility and low band gap         semiconductor material for high performance switch transistor         and image sensor application, Eunha Lee, Anass Benayad, Taeho         Shin, HyungIk Lee, Dong-Su Ko, Tae Sang Kim, Kyoung Seok Son,         Myungkwan Ryu, Sanghun Jeon & Gyeong-Su Park, SCIENTIFIC         REPORTS|4: 4948|DOI: 10.1038/srep04948, May 13, 2014, Anion         control as a strategy to achieve high-mobility and         high-stability oxide thin-film transistors, Hyun-Suk Kim, Sang         Ho Jeon, Joon Seok Park, Tae Sang Kim, Kyoung Seok Son,         Jong-Baek Seon, Seok-Jun Seo, Sun-Jae Kim, Eunha Lee, Jae Gwan         Chung, Hyungik Lee, Seungwu Han, Myungkwan Ryu, Sang Yoon Lee &         Kinam Kim, SCIENTIFIC REPORTS|3: 1459|DOI: 10.1038/srep01459,         Mar. 15, 2013     -   4) a new wide-bandgap ultra-thin-film metal oxide nMOSFET         developed at National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan (Albert         Chin), reported to have a high ION/IOFF of >10⁷ and high         mobility of 0.54X SiO₂/Si device operated at 1 MV/cm—the high         mobility TFT is due to stronger overlapped orbitals as described         in the following paper: Extremely High Mobility Ultra-Thin         Metal-Oxide with ns²np² Configuration, C. W. Shih, Albert Chin,         Chun-Fu Lu, and S. H. Yi, Proceedings IEDM15-145,         978-1-4673-9894-7/15/©2015 IEEE     -   5) Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been developed by numerous         universities and corporations for microelectronic applications         as reported in U.S. Pat. No. 8,692,230, High Performance         Field-Effect Transistors, issued to UCLA, and the following         publications of Carbonics Inc., Marina del Rey, Calif., who is         commercializing CNT technology developed by UCLA: U.S. Pat. No.         9,379,327, Photolithography based fabrication of 3D structures,         U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,897, CONTINUOUS,         SCALABLE DEPOSITION OF ALIGNED CARBON NANOTUBES USING SPRAYS OF         CARBON NANOTUBE SOLUTIONS, U.S. patent application Ser. No.         15/332,665, FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR WITH P-DOPED CARBON NANOTUBE         CHANNEL REGION AND METHOD OF FABRICATION, and U.S. patent         application Ser. No. 16/199,915, DEPOSITION OF CARBON NANOTUBES         ON SUBSTRATES AND ELECTRICAL DEVICES MANUFACTURED THEREFROM.         Carbonics, Stanford University, MIT and Skywater Technology         Foundry are actively working on commercializing CNTs in VLSI         applications through a DARPA grant. Furthermore, Nantero, Inc.         of Woburn, Mass. has done substantial work with CNTs for memory         and logic devices; for example as described in U.S. Pat. No.         9,362,390, Logic elements comprising carbon nanotube field         effect transistor (CNTFET) devices and methods of making same.         Nantero has licensed its CNT technology to Fujitsu and others         for fabrication of CNT-based resistive RAM non-volatile memory         devices (NRAM). Much other work is ongoing to implement CNT for         thin film transistors in the semiconductor field given the         promise of the high performance CNTs provide.     -   6) Lanthanide rare earth doped In—Zn—O (LnIZO) has been shown to         exhibit high mobility and stability as reported in: Flexible         AMOLED based on Oxide TFT with High Mobility, Lei Wang,         Chongpeng Ruan, et. al., SID 2017 Symposium Digest of Technical         Papers, May 2017, DOI: 10.1002/sdtp.11604, ISSN         0097-996X/17/4701-0342.

The inventions described herein shall not be limited however to the TFTs mentioned herein or in the prior art references. Significant development is underway in the TFT area; the new TFT materials and devices that become available shall apply to the scope and spirit of the inventions disclosed herein, as one skilled in the art would understand and appreciate.

These semiconductor materials may be used for the TFTs as well as in the semiconductor channel in certain memory cells such as NAND or NOR flash. Substrates for use in the invention disclosed herein may be rigid or flexible, glass (e.g., soda lime, aluminosilicate, borasilicate or other compositions) or plastic or any other substrate used in fabrication of integrated circuits or flat panel displays.

Metal oxide TFTs fabricated with thin semiconductor layers (less than 50 nm and preferably less than 10 nm) are of particular use with the inventions described herein. TFTs with such thin layers are believed to have significant better mobility due to less domain irregularities associated with amorphous materials; hence, resistance is reduced and the materials behave more like poly-crystalline material.

Each embodiment presented above merely discloses a device or method for embodying the technical idea of the present disclosure. Therefore, the technical idea of the present disclosure does not limit the materials, structures, arrangements, and the like of constituent parts to those described below. The technical idea of the present disclosure can be variously changed within the scope of the appended claims.

Furthermore, it should be apparent to one skilled in the art that x-axis and y-axis can and may be interchangeable and certain descriptions should not be limited to just the x-axis or y-axis when such terms are used in describing the columnar logic gates and arrays thereof.

While the invention has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment(s), it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment(s) disclosed, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A three-dimensional logic circuit comprising: a two-dimensional array of columnar logic gates, each having one or more input logic ports and one or more output logic ports, and each of the columnar logic gates including: a plurality of transistors vertically arranged along a semiconductor column extending from a bottom surface of a columnar logic region to a top surface of the columnar logic region, the plurality of transistors electrically interconnected so as to generate a logic output signal at the logic output port in response to one or more logic input signals received at the one or more logic input ports; one or more input conductive columns adjacent to the semiconductor column and in conductive communication with the one or more input logic ports of the columnar logic gate; and one or more output conductive columns adjacent to the semiconductor column and in conductive communication with the one or more output logic ports of the columnar logic gate; and one or more interconnection layers directly above and/or below the columnar logic region, the one or more interconnection layers conductively interconnecting input and output logic ports of the two-dimensional array of columnar logic gates so as to configure the three-dimensional logic gate to perform a logic operation.
 2. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 1, wherein a radial distance between each of the semiconductor columns and a first of the adjacent one or more input conductive columns is less than or equal to a distance between each of the semiconductor columns and others of the plurality of semiconductor columns nearest thereto.
 3. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 1, wherein the logical function is a NAND function, a NOR function, a XOR function, a XNOR function, or a FLIP-FLOP function.
 4. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of transistors of the each of the semiconductor columns is of a unipolar type.
 5. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of transistors of the each of the semiconductor columns is of a bipolar type.
 6. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more interconnection layers is directly above the columnar logic region.
 7. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more interconnection layers is directly below the columnar logic region.
 8. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 1, further comprising: a planar active region directly above or below the columnar logic region, the planar active region including a plurality of planar thin-film transistors.
 9. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 1, further comprising: a metallization layer between the top and bottom surfaces of the columnar logic region, the metallization layer conductively coupling a commonly biased node of each of the semiconductor columns of each of the plurality of the two-dimensional array of columnar logic gates.
 10. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 9, wherein the commonly biased node is either a power node or a body bias node.
 11. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 1, wherein a first of the one or more output conductive columns of a first of the two-dimensional array of columnar logic gates is adjacent to a second of the one or more an input conductive column of a second of the two-dimensional array of columnar logic gates.
 12. A three-dimensional logic circuit comprising: a substrate; a columnar active layer on top of the substrate, the columnar active layer including: a plurality of semiconductor columns separated from one another by dielectric material, each of the plurality of semiconductor columns extending along a columnar axis from a bottom surface of the columnar active layer to a top surface of the columnar active layer, wherein a plurality of transistors are vertically arranged along each of the plurality of semiconductor columns; a plurality of conductive columns interspersed among the plurality of semiconductor columns, each of the plurality of conductive columns extending along a columnar axis to the top surface and/or the bottom surface of the columnar active layer, each of the plurality of conductive columns conductively coupled to a node of one of the plurality of transistors in an adjacent semiconductor column; an interconnection layer directly above or below the columnar active layer, the interconnection layer conductively interconnecting the plurality of conductive columns thereby configuring the three-dimensional logic circuit to perform a logic operation.
 13. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 12, wherein a radial distance between each of the semiconductor columns and the adjacent conductive column is less than or equal to a distance between the semiconductor column and another of the plurality of semiconductor columns nearest thereto.
 14. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 12, wherein the logical function is a NAND function or a NOR function.
 15. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of transistors of the each of the semiconductor columns is of a unipolar type.
 16. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 12, wherein the interconnection layer is directly above the columnar active layer.
 17. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 12, further comprising: a planar active region directly above the columnar active layer, the planar active region including a plurality of planar thin-film transistors.
 18. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 12, wherein the substrate includes a planer active layer that includes a plurality of planar transistors.
 19. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 12, further comprising a metallization layer between the top and bottom surfaces of the columnar logic region, the metallization layer conductively coupling a commonly biased node of each of the plurality of semiconductor columns.
 20. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 19, wherein the commonly biased node is either a power node or a body bias node.
 21. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of columnar conductors is aligned along a columnar axis, the columnar axes of the plurality of columnar semiconductors and columnar columns are parallel to one another.
 22. The three-dimensional logic circuit of claim 12, wherein a first of the plurality of conductive columns conductively coupled to a first node of one of the plurality of transistors in a first adjacent semiconductor column is adjacent to a second of the plurality of conductive columns conductively coupled to a second node of one of the plurality of transistors in a second adjacent semiconductor column. 